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PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Delavan  L.  Pierson 

BV  3415  . S3 9  1923 

Scott,  Charles  Ernest,  1876 

Answered  prayer  in  China 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


v 


ANSWERED  PRAYER 

IN  CHINA 

Some  Prayer-Experiences  of 
Present-Day  Chinese  Christians 


By 

CHARLES  ERNEST  SCOTT 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  TIMES  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
The  Sunday  School  Times  Company 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OP  AMERICA 


TO  MY  FRIEND 


CHARLES  GALLAUDET  TRUMBULL 
FOR  WHOSE  TEACHING  ON  THE 
VICTORIOUS  LIFE  AND  THE  LIFE  OF  PRAYER 
I  AM  PROFOUNDLY  GRATEFUL, 

I  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATE  THIS  BOOK. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/answeredprayerinOOscot 


FOREWORD 


One  evening  a  gronp  of  neighbors  had  gathered 
in  our  home  to  meet  a  missionary  on  furlough 
from  China.  We  had  been  listening  to  him  for  an 
hour  or  so — no  one  kept  track  of  the  time — as  he 
stood  in  a  corner  of  the  library  and  took  us  to 
China,  took  us  itinerating  among  the  villages,  and 
into  walled  cities,  and  into  the  homes  and  churches 
and  personal  lives  of  Chinese  Christians. 

The  journey,  described  by  word-pictures  alone, 
was  so  new  to  us,  so  thrilling  in  its  highway  and 
by-way  experiences,  and  so  revealing  in  its  dis¬ 
closure  of  the  needs  of  the  people  and  of  the  vic¬ 
tories  of  the  Cross  among  them,  that  we  were  far 
more  intensely  under  the  spell  of  the  missionary’s 
narrative  than  any  of  us  could  fully  realize.  For 
when  he  had  finished,  no  one  moved,  or  said  a 
word.  We  did  not  readily  return  to  our  America 
after  that  enthralling  tour  in  the  land  of  Sinim 
through  the  welter  of  heathenism  and  the  vast 
areas  of  life  as  yet  unreached  by  the  Good  Tid¬ 
ings. 

Then,  very  quietly,  we  turned  to  one  another, 
and  shared  our  impressions  of  what  we  had  heard. 

And  one  woman  in  the  group,  whose  eyes  were 

•  • 

Vll 


viii  Answered  Prayer  in  China 

evidently  seeing  China,  said  with  all  earnestness, 
“I  think  that  is  the  most  wonderful  evening  I 
have  ever  spent  in  my  life !  ’  ’ 

Perhaps  it  was  Charles  Ernest  Scott’s  vivid 
word-picturing  of  life  in  China  as  he  had  seen  it 
with  quick,  appraising,  discerning  eyes;  perhaps 
it  was  the  range  and  suggestiveness  of  his  inci¬ 
dents,  the  sympathetic  revealing  of  the  Chinese 
heart,  and  the  setting  forth  of  great  issues  in  per¬ 
fectly  understandable  ways  that  gripped  us  so.  In 
any  event,  I  am  sure  that  all  of  us  were  glad  that 
one  who  so  evidently  rejoiced  in  the  call,  the  se¬ 
vere  toil,  and  the  testings  of  a  missionary’s  life 
could  so  memorably  and  movingly  tell  the  story. 

In  conversation  with  Mr.  Scott  one  day,  he  de¬ 
plored  the  fact  (as  lie  thought)  that  his  residence 
in  China  since  1906  had  caused  him  to  ‘ 4  lose  his 
English.”  4 ‘ Well,”  exclaimed  one  of  the  group, 
“if  that  is  so,  I  should  like  to  read  some  of  the 
things  you  wrote  before  you  lost  your  English!” 
No,  his  schooling  at  Alma  College,  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  Princeton,  Munich,  and  Prince¬ 
ton  Seminary  has  not  been  obliterated  by  his 
years  in  China,  but  apparently  only  intensified. 
Hence  his  writings  for  The  Sunday  School  Times, 
his  books,  and  his  lectures  at  Princeton  Seminary 
and  elsewhere.  In  the  Shantung  Mission  of  the 
Northern  Presbyterian  Church  he  has  been  un¬ 
wearying  in  itinerating,  in  evangelistic  work,  in 


Foreword 


ix 


famine  relief.  Indeed,  in  the  varied  and  taxing 
wrork  of  the  man  in  the  field  he  is  counted  among 
the  most  aggressive  of  the  missionaries  of  the 
Cross  in  all  of  China. 

But  his  is  not  merely  the  aggressiveness  and 
courage  of  a  vigorous  mind  and  an  athletic,  foot¬ 
ball-trained  body.  Nothing  so  fitful  and  feeble  as 
that  can  meet  the  strain  over  there — or  elsewhere. 
It  is  Charles  Scott’s  prayer-life,  his  reliance  upon 
God’s  prayer-promises,  his  full  confidence  in 
God’s  infallible  Word,  his  exultant  joy  in  seeing 
God  work  out  the  problem  on  any  and  every  oc¬ 
casion,  that  explains  his  abounding  hopefulness 
and  energy,  and  pioneer  expectancy.  So  it  is  that 
this  book  of  his  seems  to  me  to  be  straight  from 
the  heart,  as  he  bears  testimony  to  the  power  of 
prayer  out  of  a  rich,  and  reassuring  experience. 

The  same  vividness  is  here  that  was  in  his 
word-picture  that  evening  in  the  home.  But  I 
think  even  more  than  this,  in  the  light  of  ripening 
experiences,  these  narratives  carry  the  prayer- 
message  with  a  humbling  and  penetrating  chal¬ 
lenge  to  all  who  may  have  the  privilege  of  read¬ 
ing  these  testimonies  to  the  lovingkindness  of 
our  prayer-answering  Heavenly  Father.  That  is 
why  The  Sunday  School  Times  Company  is  glad 
to  have  a  publisher’s  part  in  the  extension  of 
Mr.  Scott’s  writing-ministry  through  this  book. 

Philip  E.  Howard, 

President . 


PREFACE 


Some  years  ago  Chang  Chih  Tung,  in  deeds 
and  fame  second  only  to  the  great  viceroy,  Li 
Hnng  Chang,  wrote  a  book, 6  6  China’s  Only  Hope.  ’  ’ 
It  had  a'  sale  not  common  in  the  West — several 
million  copies.  It  was  bought  eagerly  by  students, 
literati,  merchants  and  officials.  And  it  was  read 
to  tens  of  millions  of  illiterates.  (Incidentally,  it 
is  an  interesting  sight  of  a  winter  night  to  see 
thirty  to  fifty  villagers  crowded  into  a  room  and 
a  literate  reading  to  them.)  The  gist  of  Viceroy 
Chang’s  argument  was  that  the  salvation  of 
China  hangs  on  its  return  to  pure  Confucianism, 
plus  general  education  of  the  masses. 

Our  experience  in  China  leads  us  sorrowfully 
to  believe  that  Chang’s*  premises  (and,  of  neces¬ 
sity,  his  conclusions)  were  wrong.  China  has  had 
plenty  of  time  to  try  out  the  panacea  of  Confu¬ 
cianism  and  education  per  se;  they  have  landed 
China  in  the  lowest  depths. 

China  possesses  everything  that  Gladstone  said 
was  necessary  for  “conquering  empire” — conti¬ 
nental  domain  in  the  temperate  zone;  enormous 
population  that  is  brainy,  fecund,  virile,  homo- 


XI 


xii  Answered  Prayer  in  China 

geneous,  industrious  and  persevering;  immense 
and  varied  untapped  natural  resources;  and  a 
vast  shore-line  of  fine  harbors  stretching  through 
many  degrees  of  latitude — everything  except  the 
sine  qua  non,  Christian  character.  As.  Confucius 
said’ of  his  fellow-countrymen,  “You  cannot  carve 
rotten  wood!” 

Now  a  people  are  largely  the  product  of  their 
religion;  and  China’s  religious  life  has  not  com¬ 
forted  or  ennobled  her,  or  rendered  her  strong. 
Though  one  of  the  most  extended  of  states,  she 
is  one  of  the  most  impotent  politically.  Few 
have  been*  so  bulldozed  or  imposed  upon  by 
others.  Governments  and  races  which  were  not 
when  China  was  in  the  splendor  of  her  ancient 
glory  and  power,  as  being  truly  “The  Middle 
Kingdom”  of  Asia,  have  mercilessly  trampled 
upon  her  and  she  has  been  powerless  to  resent. 
Though  the  biggest  of  nations,  a  tiny  neighbor 
has  humiliated  her  times  without  number  and 
done  with  her  almost  as  she  would. 

And  though  China  has,  from  the  hoary  past, 
had  education ;  though  she  has  long  revelled  in  the 
printed  page  and  been  possessed’  of  vast  libraries, 
her  scholars  compiling  extensive  dictionaries  and 
encyclopedias,  writing  odes  and  sonnets,  stories 
and  plays  of  artistic  finish  and  literary  merit, 
yet  culture  has  not  saved  her  educated  officials 
from  the  depths  of  corruption.  Squeeze  and 


Preface 


xm 


blackmail  are  fine  arts  here.  Almost  every  official 
has  bis  price.  Truly  there  is  no  salvation  in  the 
remedies  proposed  by  Viceroy  Chang. 

Happily,  however,  we  have  found  in  China  as 
elsewhere  that  prayer  (which  is  the  heart  of  true 
religion)  is  a  virile  dynamic  to  make  life  beautiful 
and  worth  while.  If  prayer  could  change  the 
physical  battle-front  in  the  World  War;  if,  as 
General  Pershing  wrote  from  France:  “The 
invisible,  unconquerable  force  let  loose  by  the 
prayers  ...  of  the  Christian  world,  is  in¬ 
calculable,  ’ 9  then  it  is  indeed  worth  while  for 
every  Chinese  to  learn  to  pray  to  the  True  and 
Living  God ;  worth  while  for  his  soul  to  commune 
in  spirit  and  in  truth  with  Him  who  is  pure  spirit. 
And  no  higher  task  for  the  welfare  of  the  indi¬ 
vidual  and  the  nation  awaits  the  missionary  than 
that  heart-to-heart  contact  of  the  reverent,  evan¬ 
gelistic  Bible  teacher,  in  which  he  can  teach  the 
Chinese  how  to  pray. 

To  set  forth  the  fact  that  some  of  the  Chinese 
have  learned  and  are  using  this  open  secret  which 
maketh  all  things  new  is  the  purpose  of  these 
little  life-stories.  They  have  occurred  among 
humble  folk,  in  villages  unknown  to  the  great 
world.  They  are  “source  documents,”  of  intense 
interest  to  one  foreign  missionary,  because  they 
have  happened  in  his  field,  under  his  shepherding, 
as  he  has  travailed  among  his  people,  attempting 


xiv  Answered  Prayer  in  China 

faithfully  to  present  the  glorious  Gospel  of  God, 
uneviscerated,  even  in  its  naked  power. 

Out  of  these  blessed  experiences  he  wonders 
more  than  ever  why  Jehovah,  as  in  the  days  of 
Isaiah,  has  to  be  casting  his  eyes  up  and  down 
all  over  the  planet  looking  for  those  who  realize 
the  wisdom  and  joy  and  strength  of  prayer. 
“And  he  looked  for  an  intercessor,  and  there  was 
none.” 

This  little  book  is  sent  forth  with  the  hope  that 
men  will  realize  as  never  before  how,  as  King 
Arthur  said : 

More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 

Than  this  world  dreams  of.  Wherefore,  let  thy  voice 

Rise  like  a  fountain  for  me  night  and  day. 

For  so  the  whole  round  earth  is  every  way 
Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God. 

If  these  stories  teach  anything,  they  teach 
that:  “Deeper  than  the  need  for  men;  aye,  deep 
down  at  the  bottom  of  our  spiritless  life,  is  the 
need  for  the  forgotten  secret  of  prevailing  world¬ 
wide  prayer.  ’ ? 

Charles  Ernest  Scott. 


Tsinanfu,  Shantung,  China. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  Mrs.  Hwoa's  Conversion  and  Trans¬ 
formed  Life .  1 

II.  The  Little  Lad  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  9 

III.  1  ‘Praying  Through"  a  Wayward  Son..  21 

IV.  A  Soul's  Tragedy  and  Triumph .  26 

V.  A  Great  Walled  City  Taken  by  Surprise  40 

VI.  When  a  Dead  Church  Listened  to  a 

Bible  Story .  52 

VII.  The  Mountain  Church  and  Its  Murder 

Case .  66 

VIII.  The  Missionary  Lady  Who  Did  Not  Die.  .  99 

IX.  A  Chinese  Girl's  Vow .  114 

X.  A  Blessed  Surprise  For  an  Aged  Blind 

Man  .  124 

XI.  Casting  Out  a  Herd  of  Swine  Demons  . .  129 

XII.  A  Little  Child  Shall  Lead  Them .  139 

XIII.  Praying  Back  Stolen  Church  Money.  . .  147 

XIV.  Rescue  From  Robber  Violence .  154 

XV.  A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled .  161 

XVI.  Enmeshed  in  a  Heathen  Lawsuit .  182 

XVII.  A  Persecution  Case  With  a  Happy  End- 

,  ing  .  192 

XVIII.  The  Village  With  the  Charmed  Life.  . .  203 
XIX.  In  Besieged  Tsingtao .  209 


XV 


f. 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


CHAPTER  I 

MRS.  HWOA’S  CONVERSION  AND 
TRANSFORMED  LIFE 

Mrs.  Hwoa,  like  multitudes  of  Chinese  heathen 
girls,  was  in  infancy  betrothed  by  her  heathen 
parents  to  a  baby  boy  in  another  heathen  family ; 
and,  when  still  in  her  teens,  was  wedded  to  this 
husband  whom  she  had  never  seen.  Throughout 
her  region  the  heathen  marriage  ceremony  con¬ 
sists  of  the  bride  and  groom  drinking  together  a 
cup  of  wine.  Anyone,  relative  or  friend,  can  hand 
them  the  cup.  In  this  particular  instance  a  Chris¬ 
tian  relative,  an  elder  of  our  church,  insisted  on 
handing  the  cup  of  wine  to  the  couple,  though  his 
ministration  did  not  change  the  character  of  the 
rite  as  a  heathen  ceremony.  This  young  woman, 
like  myriads  of  her  kind,  was  unschooled  and 
inexperienced ;  and,  in  her  heathen  ignorance,  was 
senselessly  prejudiced  against  the  Christian  re¬ 
ligion,  of  which  she  at  that  time  knew  nothing. 


2 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


So,  to  avoid  contamination  from  the  “cursed  for¬ 
eign  Jesns  Doctrine  man/’  she  bolted  from  the 
room  before  drinking  of  the  cnp.  It  made  a  ter¬ 
rible  scene,  shocking  to  the  Chinese  sense  of  pro¬ 
priety,  which  sets  forth  the  proper  behavior  of 
women,  who  are  so  in  subjection  that  they  have 
nothing  to  say  regarding  the  choice  of  husband, 
much  less  regarding  the  date  and  arrangements 
as  to  the  wedding.  When  it  is  remembered  that 
a  bride  wears  a  heavy  veil  of  richly  embroidered 
red  cloth  (which  covers  her  head  and  shoulders), 
and  that  her  wedding  gown  is  so  heavy  that  she 
has  to  be  supported  by  a  woman  on  each  side  as 
she  walks  to  the  ceremony,  even  a  foreigner  can 
realize  something  of  the  sensation  that  the  poor 
girl  created.  Her  action,  “  outside  the  pale  of 
custom,  ”  is  more  interesting  in  view  of  what  she 
was  later  to  become.  Of  course,  they  forced  her 
back  to  go  through  the  ceremony  in  proper 
fashion. 

She  had  been  married  but  a  short  time  when  her 
husband  died,  leaving  her  in  the  condition,  in 
China,  horrible  beyond  words;  for  the  maid  or 
the  childless  widow  ordinarily  has  no  one  on 
whom  she  can  depend.  The  former  is  a  nuisance, 
very  badly  treated  (if  tolerated  at  all,  in  her  own 
home,  and  finally  to  be  buried  with  contumely) 
and  practically  unable  to  get  justice  or  fair  deal¬ 
ing  from  any  one.  Understanding  only  too  well 


Mrs.  Hwoa’s  Conversion 


3 


the  unhappy  fate  that  apparently  was  ahead  of 
her,  the  grief  of  this  young  woman  was  incon¬ 
solable.  The  elder  who  attempted  to  officiate  at 
the  wedding  and  who  was  also  present  at  the 
funeral  realized  as  she  wept  day  after  day  that, 
unless  her  mind  could  come  out  of  its  shell  and 
her  thoughts  be  turned  away  from  her  grief,  she 
would  die  from  starvation  and  thirst.  So,  as  she 
sat  in  her  woe,  he  with  other  male  relatives  im¬ 
proved  the  opportunity  to  try  to  console  her  and 
to  exhort  her  to  turn  to  the  Christian  religion 
for  abiding  comfort.  She  was  young,  good  look¬ 
ing,  and,  though  uneducated,  was  bright.  If  she 
could  be  interested  in  Christianity  there  were  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  great  usefulness  ahead  of  her.  Ac¬ 
cordingly,  the  elder,  after  much  prayer,  decided 
on  a  bold  step.  It  was  nothing  less  than  to  pro¬ 
pose  that  the  pretty  young  widow  go  with  an 
older  woman  relative,  both  escorted  by  him,  to  a 
Christian  women’s  Bible  Conference,  a  few  tens 
of  li  away.  The  women  were  astonished  out  of 
measure  at  his  bold,  and  to  them  unthinkable, 
proposition,  and  flatly  refused.  But  he  argued 
and  coaxed  and  exhorted  and  encouraged,  putting 
forth  benefits  in  every  conceivable  form  that 
would  appeal  to  them,  until  finally  he  secured  a 
conditioned  consent. 

After  having  got  the  secret  assent  of  the  women 
and  their  men  folks  (“  three  can  keep  a  secret — if 


4 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


two  are  dead/’  according  to  Poor  Richard),  the 
thing  leaked  out  to  the  heathen  villagers.  They 
forthwith  raised  a  pretty  fnss  abont  the  matter 
and  prepared  to  resist  by  force  the  departure  of 
the  women  from  their  village  upon  such  an  ex¬ 
pedition,  although  they  were  adequately  escorted 
by  their  own  men  folks.  It  was  indeed  a  critical 
situation  when  the  little  company — several  men 
to  each  donkey,  upon  each  of  which  sat  a  woman — 
approached  the  village  gate.  A  threatening  crowd 
faced  them  outside;  there  was  much  vociferous 
talk  by  which  the  heathen  neighbors  relieved  their 
minds  in  the  vigorous  language  of  revilement,  all 
but  laying  violent  hands  upon  the  little  cavalcade ; 
yet  they  were  finally  allowed  to  pass  unharmed 
upon  their  journey. 

And  the  young  woman  who  was  the  center  of 
it  all?  It  was  indeed  a  great  adventure  for  her, 
such  as  a  journey  across  the  sea  to  another  land 
would  be  to  us.  When  she  arrived  at  the  place 
of  conference,  where  hundreds  of  Christian 
women  had  assembled  in  the  largest  church  of  all 
our  field,  she  was  amazed  beyond  measure  to  see 
those  other  women,  happy,  confident,  and  actually 
standing  up  without  fear  like  men,  and  earnestly, 
joyously,  expounding  a  new  and  strange  teaching. 
Pay  by  day,  as  she  listened,  a  secret  hope  began 
to  dawn  in  her  mind ;  also  a  realization  took  hold 
of  her  that  she  could  have  a  present,  as  well  as  a 


Mrs.  Hwoa’s  Conversion 


5 


future,  of  joy  and  usefulness.  Even  though  a 
woman,  yes,  a  widow,  as  she  put  it,  God  had  a 
place  for  her!  And  when  the  conference  was 
ended  she  had  made  up  her  mind  that  if  God 
would  open  the  way  for  her  she  would  attend  our 
Women’s  Bible  School,  a  modest  little  institution 
run  by  the  Chinese  of  our  field,  already  having 
much  good  to  its  credit  in  the  changed  and  useful 
lives  which  it  had  moulded. 

However,  there  was  a  great  difficulty  in  the 
way.  She  had  no  money.  Her  nearest  men  folk 
were  heathen,  quite  callous  to  her  physical  needs, 
much  more  to  her  spiritual  welfare,  and  the  school 
was  many  miles  from  the  home  of  her  heathen 
mother-in-law,  who  rather  violently  discouraged 
her  entertaining  this  wild  idea.  It  was  to  her 
entire  family  as  a  madcap  venture.  There  was 
nothing  for  her  to  do  but  to  pray:  “Lord,  if  it  is 
Thy  will,  open  the  way  for  me  to  attend  this 
school.”  This  she  prayed  steadily  for  six 
months,  when  one  day  the  good  Christian  woman 
in  whose  yard  the  school  is  held  and  who  acts  as 
mother  to  all  these  friendless  women  who  attend 
learned  of  her  decision  and  her  heart  went  out  to 
her  to  help  her. 

On  a  visit  to  a  friend  at  Tsingtau  she  men¬ 
tioned  the  case  to  this  woman  as  one  for  whom 
earnestly  to  pray.  Now  “it  happened”  that,  at 
that  very  time,  the  earnest  Christian  wife  of  a 


6 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


well-to-do  Christian  merchant  had  some  tithe 
money  that  she  wished  to  invest  to  the  best  ad¬ 
vantage.  She  and  her  money  were  at  once  put 
in  touch  with  this  woman,  and  Mrs.  Hwoa  began 
her  longed-for  schooling  at  the  Women’s  Bible 
School.  The  difficulties  of  escort  and  the  physical, 
financial  and  moral  difficulties  as  well,  to  and  from 
the  school,  at  the  beginning  and  close  of  each 
term,  were  very  great.  Her  immediate  family, 
as  hinted  before,  hindered  the  whole  idea  to  the 
extent  of  their  ability.  Imagine  by  contrast,  in 
the  home  land,  an  entire  clan  of  people  withhold¬ 
ing  all  sympathy  and  moral  support  from  one  of 
their  own  young  women  who  had  the  laudable 
ambition  to  go  to  school  and  be  somebody,  par¬ 
ticularly  when  it  cost  them  no  financial  sacrifice 
to  encourage  her.  Yet  prayer  broke  down  their 
obstinate,  senseless  opposition. 

It  would  not  do,  according  to  Chinese  etiquette, 
for  any  ordinary  carter  or  barrowman  to  escort 
Mrs.  Hwoa.  The  only  solution  of  the  problem 
was  for  the  elder,  who  lived  a  good  many  miles 
away  from  her  home,  to  arrange  his  time  so  that 
he  could  trudge  to  her  village,  furnish  an  animal 
for  her  and  lead  her  on  that  animal,  at  a  walk, 
to  and  from  the  school  many  miles  away. 

This  process  went  on  four  times  a  year  for 
three  years,  until  she  graduated.  Never  once  did 
her  mother-in-law  or  the  male  relatives  of  the 


Mrs.  Hwoa’s  Conversion 


7 


family  into  which  she  had  married  relent  in  their 
hostility,  openly  expressed.  At  last  came  her 
graduation,  the  longed-for  occasion  from  which 
she  conld  look  forward  to  entering  upon  her 
career  as  a  Bible-woman.  To  be  snre,  she  was  to 
be  employed  only  six  months  of  the  year  and  at  a 
salary  of  five  dollars  (Mexican)  a  month;  but  she 
eagerly  jumped  at  this  chance  as  a  way  of  self- 
support  and  self-respect,  also  as  the  means  by 
which  she  might  witness  for  her  Lord,  who  for 
her  had  made  all  things  new. 

Though  young  and  inexperienced,  she  was  as¬ 
signed  to  a  difficult  place  far  away  from  her  home, 
to  work  among  mountain  peasant  women,  shut 
in  from  all  the  world.  These  women  to  whom 
she  went  had  never  seen  a  woman  teacher,  much 
less  had  dreamed  that  they  might  have  one  to 
open  up  to  them  a  religion  as  full  of  joy  and  com¬ 
fort  as  it  was  new  and  strange.  There,  practically 
unaided  by  any  other  woman,  and  feeling  keenly 
the  need  of  the  sympathy  of  her  Christian  sisters 
who,  in  the  Woman’s  Bible  School,  had  been  to 
her,  as  she  confessed,  a  real  spiritual  luxury,  she 
labored  the  first  year  after  graduation  in  zeal 
and  faith  and  love.  The  result  was  that  she  was 
rewarded  by  seeing  more  than  a  score  of  women 
moved  out  into  that  light  of  Cod  which  maketh 
all  things  new.  Not  only  so,  her  prayers  have 
been  rewarded  so  that  her  mother-in-law  and  her 


8 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


entire  family  have  now  changed  their  attitnde 
toward  her  and  the  Christian  religion,  marveling 
openly,  as  they  say,  that  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
conld  make  her  so  independent  and  attractive  and 
nsefnl.  Her  heart  of  love  has  opened  the  way 
for  a  young  married  sister,  also  widowed,  to  pnt 
her  girls  through  our  high  school,  and  a  son  is 
studying  in  our  middle  school. 

Thus  is  illustrated  concretely  in  her  case  what 
we  continually  see :  that  the  Gospel  is  always  and 
everywhere  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation, 
working  mightily  through  one  individual  really 
committed  to  Christ.  It  spreads  among  those  to 
whom  it  is  presented,  and  particularly  through 
the  whole  family  of  the  one  who  does  the  faithful 
witnessing.  Evidently  God  so  intends  it.  “Thou 
shalt  he  saved,  and  thy  house.  ” 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  LITTLE  LAD  AND  THE 
LORD’S  SUPPER 

I  was  on  the  road  and  it  was  past  noon.  The 
pleasantest  part  of  the  day’s  work  was  yet  before 
me.  Abont  dark  I  reached  the  village  where  I 
was  to  conduct  a  communion  service,  and  after  an 
unsatisfying  Session  meeting  with  the  two  elders 
and  several  candidates,  all  was  ready  to  begin. 
When  we  entered  the  church — the  typical,  primi¬ 
tive  ‘ 4  church  in  the  house  ’  ’ — it  was  packed.  The 
audience  had  been  waiting  patiently  more  than 
an  hour  for  our  arrival,  spending  the  time  in 
singing  and  exhorting  one  another.  After  the 
service  many  of  them  would  have  to  walk  several 
miles  in  the  dark.  More  persons  would  have  been 
present"  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  one  or 
more  from  every  household  has  to  stay  at  home 
when  the  others'  leave,  and  act  as  han  men  ti 
(gate-keepers),  guarding  the  family  yard  and 
property  against  thieves.  All  arose  and  bowed 
and  indulged  themselves  in  hearty  greeting,  and 
then  the  service  began. 

Until  one  faces  such  a  service,  set  down  in  the 


9 


10 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


midst  of  raw  heathenism,  he  may  he  surprised  to 
see  how  much  of  a  part  adventitious  aids  have 
played  in  his  conception  of  what  are  necessary 
conditions  and  surroundings  in  order  that  he  may 
decently  and  in  order  participate  in  a  celebration 
of  the  Holy  Supper — soft  cushions,  a  comfortable 
temperature,  carpeted  floors,  noiselessly  moving 
ministrants,  a  holy  hush,  exquisitely  beautiful 
music  artistically  rendered.  In  the  catacombs 
outside  of  Rome,  where  for  very  joy  the  early 
Christians  daily  partook  of  the  Feast,  the  visitor 
to-day  fails  to  find  any  suggestion  of  fitting 
esthetic  accompaniments — paid  choir,  pipe  organ, 
orchestra,  clustered  Gothic  columns,  rose  win¬ 
dows,  private  pews. 

Conditions  here  would  doubtless  have  shocked 
the  “proper”  home  communicant.  In  front  of 
the  pastor  stood  a  rickety  old  table  grimed  with 
filth.  No  spotless  linen  of  sacred  home  memories 
covered  it — nothing  covered  it.  What  prepara¬ 
tion  had  been  made  had  been  the  work  of  the 
elders;  for,  while  the  pastor  helps  with  sugges¬ 
tions,  the  responsibility  is  theirs,  and  the  only 
way  to  learn  perfection  is  through  imperfect 
attempts  to*  gain  facility  and  a  sense  of  fitness. 

On  the  table,  covered*  by  a  dirty  towel,  was  a 
foreign  beer  bottle  containing  native  wine,  plates 
with  whole  Chinese  biscuits  upon  them,  and  sev¬ 
eral  dirty  and  cracked  bowls.  The  minister 


The  Lad  and  the  Lord’s  Supper 


11 


groaned  inside,  but  it  is  ticklish  business-  to  wound 
the  sensibilities  of  ignorant,  untrained  leaders 
with  whom  one  works,  and  who  are  doing  the  best 
they  know  how.  Here  was  not  the  time  or  place 
to  remove  the  bottle  or  to  rebuke  the  elders.  So 
with  a  prayer  for  grace  the  minister  began  his 
sermon.  In  the  midst  of  it  some  naked  boys, 
standing  just  in  front  of  the  communion  table, 
called  the  preacher’s  attention  to  a  big-lettered 
poster  in  English  and  Chinese  which  hung  across 
the  paper  panes  of  the  window  sash — “Pabst 
Beer  Is  Always  Pure!”  Extraordinary  accom¬ 
paniments  of  a  communion  service ! 

Incidentally,  I  might  add  that  the  enterprising 
American  cigarette  and  beer  firms  have  by  their 
advance*  agents  penetrated  to  the  far  confines  of 
the  republic  and  “ posted”  many  of  the  sup¬ 
posedly  inaccessible  nooks  of  the  outlying  sec¬ 
tions.  But  our  American  Protestant  Church,  that 
spends  over  three  millions  a  month  with  Tiffany 
alone  merely  for  imported  diamonds,  is  too  poor 
to  take  outposts  of  China  for  Christ. 

Another  episode  broke  in  upon  the  sermon 
when  a  patriarch  in  years  and  in  the  faith,  who 
had  come  a  long  way  and  walked  laboriously,  but 
who  wanted  to  be  there  to  meet  the  Lord,  tottered 
in.  All — boys  and  girls,  men  and  women — arose 
to  receive  him,  and  the  preacher  stopped  preach¬ 
ing  till  he  had  seated  the  old  man  directly  in  front 


12 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


of  him.  He  was  an  interesting  study — bronzed, 
wrinkled  and  bent,  bis  face  placid  and  benignant. 
Very  proud  be  was  of  the  scraggly  sprouts  of 
white  whiskers  on  bis  chin.  These  be  stroked 
affectionately  while  be  listened  with  half-shut 
eyes,  and  leaned  heavily  on  his  staff.  Had  Tissot 
been  there,  this  figure  might  have  served  him  for 
a  study  of  worn-out  Jacob  when  he  passed 
through  those  long  lines  of  gigantic,  grotesque, 
carven,  ram-headed  figures  at  Thebes  (modern 
Ivarnak),  on  his  way,  in  the' prestige  of  Joseph’s 
name,  to  a  gorgeous  court  to  meet  the  most  mag¬ 
nificent  of  ancient  monarchs.  The  old  man  might 
have  sat  for  another  representation  of  the  dying 
Israel  gazing  upon  his  stalwart  sons  and  their 
progeny  when  about  to  utter  the  prophecies  of 
their  tribal  destinies. 

In  the  home  land  I  had  never  celebrated  the 
Lord’s  Supper  at  eventide;  but  many  a  time  here, 
by  a  flickering  candle  or  a  dingy  bean-oil  wick, 
have  I  met  with  God’s  people  around  His  table. 
And  it  has  helped  me  to  a  sense  of  nearness  to 
the  Lord  and  to  a  reality  of  experience  with  Him 
to  recall  that  on  that  night  wherein  He  was  be¬ 
trayed,  as  He  celebrated  that  last  Passover,  awe- 
fully  changed  into  the  first  Eucharist,  possibly 
He  also,  by  some  such  faint  light,  looked  upon  the 
shadowy  faces  of  His  friends,  that  humble  group 
gathered  around  the  table;  and,  with  no  external 


The  Lad  and  the  Lord’s  Supper 


13 


aids  to  worship  or  to  bolster  up  the  solemnity  of 
the  occasion,  He  also  with  them  drew  near  to  the 
throne  of  the  ever-living,  ever-adorable  God,  pure 
Spirit,  to  find  strength  in  time  of  need,  and  to 
pledge  anew  deathless  fealty  to  Him  with  whom 
we  have  to  do. 

Under  these  crude  surroundings  here — often  in 
a  half  donkey  stable,  a  storeroom  of  what  looks 
like  a  junk  shop — one  gets  down  to  reality.  And 
I  am  always  amazed,  much  though  we  teach  that 
God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  to  realize  that, 
despite  the  sweat  and  the  dirt  and  the  smell, 
despite  the  simplicity  of  humble  folk  and  the  half¬ 
darkness  of  soul  out  of  which  they  are  struggling 
— despite  every  drawback  and  hindrance — the 
Holy  Spirit  is  there  in  the  midst,  again  and  again, 
and  in  power  to  convict  and  to  energize,  as  on 
that  night. 

I  have  always  felt  a  profound  sympathy  with 
Martin  Luther,  who  trembled,  sometimes  well-nigh 
fainted,  as  he  led  in  the  celebration  of  the 
Eucharist.  The  responsibility  is  as  fearful  as 
blessed.  That  night  I  felt  it  more  than  usual. 
Hard  hearts  were  there,  baptized,  but  unprepared 
for  blessing.  I  could  feel  it  as  I  preached.  Those 
who  had  presented  themselves  for  examination 
were  ignorant  of  the  step  they  professed  to  take. 
And  I  was  heavy  of  heart,  not  only  at  inability 
to  receive  them,  but  at  their  utter  failure  to  sense 


14 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


their  privilege;  and  because  there  were  no  other 
candidates,  as  expected,  from  this  group. 

The  little  room  in  which  we  were  meeting,  like 
many  a  schoolhouse-church-and-family  residence, 
one  in  which  we  frequently  meet,  had  a  half  parti¬ 
tion  across  it  in  the  rear  which  made  the  end  of 
the  hang;  and  on  this,  farthest  away  from  the 
minister,  and  where  they  naturally  were  least  able 
to  hear,  though  needing  the  teaching  more,  sat  the 
women  and  girls.  The  service  from  their  end  had 
been  much  distracted  by  the  crying  and  moving 
of  children.  Through  the  dim  light  the  air  was 
murky  with  dust  that  arose  from  the  dirt  floor 
and  sifted  from  the  cobwebs,  heavy  with  the  ac¬ 
cumulations  of  years,  that  depended  from  the 
cornstalk  ceiling. 

Just  preceding  the  distribution  of  the  elements 
I  noticed  particularly  among  the  group  of  school¬ 
boys  seated  in  front  a  little  fellow  with  a  face 
like  a  cherub.  It  should  have  commanded  my 
attention  earlier,  as  it  was  both  unusually  clean 
and  attractive.  Though  only  six  years  old,  he 
listened  intently,  occasionally  looking  wistfully  at 
the  elements  on  the  table.  As  I  dwelt  upon  the 
love  and  pity  of  Christ,  the  boy’s  face  filled  with 
distress,  and  soon  he  left  the  room  in  tears.  One 
elder  followed  him  outside  to  learn  what  was  the 
trouble.  Tie  answered:  “I  love  Jesus  and  want 
to  be  baptized  and  join  the  church!” 


The  Lad  ahd  the  Lord’s  Supper 


15 


Thinking  this  a  mere  childish  whim,  the  elder 
questioned  and  prayed  with  him,  and  counseled 
him  to  keep  on  learning  the  Doctrine  so  that  he 
might  enter  the  church  when  older.  Then  the 
lad  returned  to  his  backless  stool,  to  sit  there 
not  many  more  minutes  listening  before  he  began 
to  weep,  this  time  more  intensely.  The  elder  took 
him  outside,  talked  and  prayed  with  him  a  second 
time,  and  comforted  his  heart  by  promising  that 
he  would  at  once  tell  the  Session. 

When  I  had  finished  speaking  the  elder  arose, 
and  with  trembling  lips  told  the  audience  how 
smitten  he  had  felt  that  no  adult  was  willing  to 
confess  Christ,  and  none  even  of  the  schoolboys ; 
and  that  this  lad,  a  Chinese  Samuel,  had  arisen — 
a  rebuke  to  himself  and  to  them  all — steadfast  in 
his  conviction  to  confess  Jesus  before  all.  What 
should  be  done?  His  conscience  troubled  him  till 
he  had  spoken  out  this  matter.  Could  the  lad  so 
young  be  received  into  the  church  at  once?  Was 
there  reason  for  it?  Certainly  this  was  not 
according  to  custom ! 

After  a  solemn  silence  the  other  elder,  a  big, 
dignified  man,  a  mission  school  teacher  of  many 
years’  experience,  arose.  He  was  one  of  the  few 
Christian  leaders  who,  on  a  black  day,  denied  his 
Lord  and  recanted  under  Boxer  torture.  Now, 
in  a  husky  voice,  he  said:  “Let  the  Session  here 
and  now  examine  this  little  one !  ’  ’  Then,  by  way 


16 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


of  proof,  ho  turned  to  passages  in  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment,  and  read  them  slowly  and  distinctly,  that 
all  might  hear  and  understand. 

As  the  lad  was  put  on  a  stool  in  front  of  all  the 
people,  a  hush  fell  upon  the  room — and  remained. 
Fearlessly  he  stood  there,  eager  for  the  examina¬ 
tion,  his  big  black  eyes  lustrous  with  love  to 
Jesus.  His  mother  was  a  school  teacher,  young 
and  pretty  and  neatly  dressed,  who  had  been  de¬ 
serted  by  her  bright  and  educated  husband  for 
becoming  a  Christian.  It  seemed  natural  for  the 
mother,  quietly  and  unbidden,  to  come  from  the 
rear  and  stand  with  her  arm  about  him,  a  mist  of 
joy  in  her  eyes.  Then  his  older  sister,  a  baptized 
communicant,  also  came  and  stood  on  his  other 
side. 

Looking  at  the  child,  my  thoughts  instantly  and 
spontaneously  flashed  to  a  friend  in  Christ,  Hor¬ 
ace  Tracy  Pitkin,  of  Yale,  who  died  a  martyr  in 
the  flames  that  such  a  little  one  as  this  might  be 
in  the  Father’s  bosom;  and  to  his  baby  son, 
Horace,  Jr.,  a  child  of  the  covenant,  inheriting 
much,  though  few  things  more  precious  than  the 
legacy  of  dedication  so  to  spend  his  life  that  such 
as  this  little  one  might  have  life  abundantly.  The 
father’s  earthly  life  had  gone  out  at  Paotingfu, 
through  the  fierce  hate  of  the  Boxers,  for  the 
Name — a  hate  as  cruel  as  ignorant ;  but  before  he 
ascended  to  glory  he  had  penned  these  words  that 


The  Lad  and  the  Lord’s  Supper 


17 


thrilled  the  Christian  world:  “Tell  little  Horace 
that  when  he  is  twenty-five  years  old  I  expect  him 
to  come  to  take  his  father’s  place.”  And  not 
many  months  before  we  had  received  a  letter  from 
the  widowed  mother  saying  that  little  Horace  had 
partaken  of  his  first  communion,  that  when  he 
came  before  the  Session  wise  and  cautious  men 
had  hesitated  to  receive  him  to  the  table;  but  so 
clearly  and  satisfactorily  had  he  answered  all 
questions  that  there  remained  no  doubt  in  the 
mind  of  any  as  to  his  preparedness. 

Likewise  this  examination  was  a  surprise.  It 
revealed  the  fact  that  the  boy  had  long  known 
how  to  pray ;  that  morning  and  evening  he  prayed 
God  to  help  him  to  become  a  minister;  that  his 
mother  had  taught  him  to  sing  many  hymns  and 
memorize  many  Bible  verses,  and  that  he  did  both 
well.  Like  Hannah,  she  had  given  him  from  his 
birth  to  the  Lord,  and  like  Hannah  had  taught 
her  boy  to  feel  in  his  young  soul,  “Here  am  I.” 
With  keen  zest  he  gave  his  childish  witness,  clear 
and  unaffected,  excellent  and  reasonable.  I  have 
had  some  joyous  experiences  as  a  pastor  in  the 
home  land,  training  and  receiving  children  into 
the  church,  but  never  had  I  seen  anything  so  un¬ 
studied  and  artless,  and  so  profound  in  impres¬ 
sion.  What  joy  the  Lord  must  have  felt  at  such 
simple  transparently  sincere  testimony  as  was 
given  that  night ! 


18 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


But  it  did  not  end  there.  Under  his  example 
seven  large  schoolboys  arose  and  confessed  Christ 
and  were  examined;  also  the  wife  of  the  boys’ 
teacher;  also  four  big  girls  in  the  girls’  school. 
They  were  out  of  heathen  homes,  but  made  a 
good  witness,  and  knew  what  they  were  doing 
and  what  it  involved  of  persecution.  The  Holy 
Spirit  manifestly  worked.  Then  a  man  got  up 
whom  I  had  hoped  would  meet  with  the  Session 
earlier  in  the  evening.  He  was  illiterate  but  in¬ 
fluential.  More  than  a  year  before  I  had  taught 
him  the  Lord’s  Prayer.  He  was  repentant  and 
desirous  to  learn,  but  in  his  ignorance  had  lacked 
courage.  He  feared  his  family.  Having  money, 
they  could  make  it  especially  hard  for  him.  How¬ 
ever,  he  clung  tenaciously  to  the  Model  Prayer, 
daily  repeating  it.  “And,”  he  added  with  the 
ingenuousness  of  a  child,  “at  its  close  1  always 
‘ha  tou’  to  Jesus!”  And,  so  saying,  he  then  and 
there  repeated  the  prayer — reverently  and  with 
deep  emotion — and  then  got  down  on  the  dirt  floor 
and  knocked  his  head  three  times  in  the  dust  to 
God.  I  helped  him  up,  gently  protesting,  but  he 
quickly  replied:  “I  have  always  honored  the 
idols  thus.  Should  I  do  less  for  the  true  God?” 
He  laid  what  he  knew  of  life’s  glory  in  the  dust 
for  Christ’s  sake.  With  tears  streaming  down 
his  face  he  pledged  himself  before  the  audience: 
“I  confess  my  sins.  I  trust  Jesus  to  save  me  and 


The  Lad  and  the  Lord’s  Supper 


19 


keep  me.  I  have  been  a  coward.  I  now  resolve  to 
endnre  all  evil  consequences  of  taking  Him  into 
my  life!” 

Such  a  sight  is  strange  and  awe-compelling — 
to  see  the  scales  lift  from  the  sight  of  a  blinded 
soul,  and  see  that  soul  spring  eagerly  out  of  the 
heathen  blackness  in  which  he  groped  into  the 
splendor  of  light  that  is  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ,  Lord  of  glory. 

All  these  were  that  night  received  by  the  Ses¬ 
sion.  It  was  a  blessed  communion.  So  grateful 
to  God  were  some  of  the  women  for  what  they 
experienced  that  night  that,  after  the  celebration 
of  the  Supper,  they  did  what  we  had  long  been 
powerless  to  persuade  them,  unwilling,  to  do. 
They  had  no  money,  so  they  brought  their  most 
prized  earthly  possessions:  earrings,  bracelets, 
rings — big,  cheap,  and  for  the  most  part  crude 
and  ugly  gewgaws,  of  little  intrinsic  value,  but 
the  best  they  had — and  laid  them  on  the  altar 
toward  the  salary  of  a  Bible  woman,  fearfully 
needed  in  their  midst.  This  so  stirred  the  men 
that  they  subscribed  the  balance  needed. 

The  people  had  not  wanted  special  services  nor 
a  revival.  Now  they  wanted  both;  and  this 
Spirit-refreshing  opened  the  way  for  a  series  of 
tent  meetings,  resulting  in  a  blessing  to  church 
and  heathen.  And  the  end  is  not  yet.  Again  has 
God  vindicated  himself,  in  ways  beyond  our 


20 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


fathoming.  Truly  our  God  worketh  wonders, 
using  the  small  things  of  the  world,  the  despised, 
even  a  young  Chinese  boy,  to  break  hardened 
heathen  hearts  and  to  kindle  with  holy  enthusiasm 
the  hearts  of  Christians  grown  cold,  and  the  wand 
of  power  is  prayer,  the  believing  prayer  of  His 
faithful  ones. 


CHAPTER  III 

“PRAYING  THROUGH”  A  WAYWARD  SON 

Some  time  before  the  fell  year  of  1900,  the 
Boxer  year,  a  Chinese  heathen  woman,  Mrs. 
Wang,  heard  one  of  onr  Bible  women  explaining 
the*  “Jesus  Doctrine,”  studied  it,  and  later  was 
baptized.  She  made  such  progress  that  she  be¬ 
came  a  Bible-woman  herself.  When  the  mission¬ 
aries  had  to  flee  from  Wei  Hsien  Station,  in 
Shantung  Province,  she  remained  behind  to  wait 
for  Miss  Hawes,  her  special  friend,  and  another 
missionary,  who  were  out  in  the  villages  on  an 
evangelistic  itinerating  trip,  and  who  did  not  know 
that  their  fellow-missionaries  had  in  the  mean¬ 
time  been  forced  to  flee.  The  late  P.  H.  Chalfant, 
D.  D.,  had*  remained  behind  on  the  compound  to 
help  these  ladies  and  escort  them  away  in  safety. 
This  was  the  natural  thing  for  this  brave,  re¬ 
sourceful,  gallant  Christian  man  to  do. 

Had  she  so  chosen,  Mrs.  Wang  could  have  left 
the  compound  earlier,  when  the  other  mission¬ 
aries  abandoned  it,  but  she  preferred  to  stay  be¬ 
hind' and  help  her  foreign  lady  friend,  if  possible; 
and,  if  not,  to  share  her  fate. 


21 


22 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


Later,  after  the  return  of  the  two  ladies,  when 
the  Boxers  burst  into  the  compound  and  fired  it, 
and  were  looting  the  houses  while  the  flames  were 
licking  them  up,  these  devoted  people  retired  to 
an  upper  room  to  pray  together  in  the  face  of 
death — apparently  imminent,  certain  and  hor¬ 
rible.  By  a  marvelous  providence  they  found  a 
ladder  and  were  able  to  climb  over  the  compound 
wall  in  the  very  face  of  the  Boxers,  who  were 
shortly  before  howling  for  their  blood,  and  who 
had  been  “stood  off”  only  by  Dr.  Chalf ant’s 
heroic  efforts,  but  who  now  allowed  them  to  pass 
unchallenged  out  of  the  burning  house,  across  the 
compound  and  over  the  wall  as  they  looted,  fever¬ 
ishly,  before  the  flames  destroyed  the  booty. 

After  a  most  thrilling  experience  of  night  flight 
through  patches  of  corn  and  kao  liang,  constantly 
in  peril  of  their  lives,  even  from  the  troops,  Boxer 
sympathizers,  who  finally  escorted  them,  they 
safely  reached  Tsingtau.  Mrs.  Wang’s  intelligent 
face  and  her  quickness  with  the  needle  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  wife  of  Oscar  von  Truppel, 
the  German  Admiral,  and  acting  governor  of  the 
Kaiser’s  prize' “Kolonie.”  So  Mrs.  Wang,  child 
of  poverty  and  squalor,  by  a  strange  turn  of  for¬ 
tune,  became  sewing  woman  at  twenty  dollars  a 
month,  a  fabulous  sum  for  her,  in  the  big,  com¬ 
fortable  mansion  which  is  a  real  palace,  finer  than 
that  owned  by  many  a  prince  in  Europe. 


“Praying  Through’ ’  a  Wayward  Son  23 


While  there,  in  the  employ  of  the  gracious  Gov¬ 
ernor ’s  wife  (who,  by  the  way,  is  of  Philadelphia 
origin),  Mrs.  Wang,  in  attending  our  local  church 
services,  became  acquainted  with  one  of  the  lady 
missionaries — Miss  Vaughan,  a  member  of  our 
station — whose  self-sacrificing  life,  zeal  for  Christ 
and  eagerness  for  souls  so  influenced  her  that, 
when  the  Boxer  madness  quieted  down  so  that 
preachers  could  again  go  to  the  country,  Mrs. 
Wang  decided  to  leave  her  high- salaried  and 
luxuriously  boused  position  and  become  Miss 
Vaughan’s  companion  in  hardship,  resuming  her 
work  as  a  Bible  woman  at  the  munificent  salary 
of  five  dollars  (Mex)  a  month. 

Mrs.  Wang  had,  in  early  childhood,  been  mar¬ 
ried  to  a  heathen  husband  who  was  a  “tartar.” 
He  had  run  the  whole  gamut  of  badness,  inci¬ 
dentally  having  nearly  harried  the  life,  as  he  had 
the  wages,  out  of  his  wife.  When  he  learned  of 
her  decision  he  roundly  cursed  and  beat  his  wife 
for  her  idiocy  in  substituting  a  salary  of  five  dol¬ 
lars  for  twenty  dollars  a  month.  And  his  deleteri¬ 
ous  example  was  followed  by  a  grown-up  son. 
Such  experiences  as  have  been  Mrs.  Wang’s  must 
either  develop  a  person  into  saintliness  or  drive 
one  to  despair.  A  veritable  Chinese  Monica,  she 
had  spent  her  heart  to  an  incredible  degree  on 
this  wayward  son,  every  lapse  and  outrage  upon 
her  calling  forth  new  depths  of  faith  and  love. 


24 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


And  each  disappointment  had  seemed  bnt  to 
strengthen  her  to  follow  her  son  in  prayer  from 
place  to  place  in  his  sin-wanderings,  even  as  the 
mother  heart  of  Monica  followed  her  long  way¬ 
ward  Augustine.  Her  faith  to  intercede  for  her 
son  gave  her  power  to  intercede  effectively  for 
other  people  and  objects  of  the  Kingdom  outside 
her  own  life  and  circle.  Our  station  sent  her  to 
a  heathen  village  to  work,  and  in  a  short  time 
she  had  a  goodly  company  of  enquirers  gathered 
together.  Under  her  teaching  there,  nearly  thirty 
became  Christians,  and  built  their  own  church, 
even  the  heathen  being  moved  by  her  prayers  to 
help.  By  prayer,  and  in  the  name  of  Christ,  she 
cast  out  unclean  spirits’  from  demon-possessed 
persons.  The  weak  and  literally  demon-harried 
enquirers,  in  their  distress,  came  to  her;  and  as 
often  as  they  came’  she  prayed  them  to  relief  and 
peace.  Her  soul  travail  for  her  son  had  com¬ 
pensations;  she  increasingly  received  sympathy 
and  love  and  tact  to  help  others  in  spiritual  dis¬ 
tress.  When  one  of  our  elders  had  a  relatively 
large  sum  of  church  money  stolen  out  of  his  yard, 
he  walked  many  li  to  pray  with  her  for  its  return, 
instead  of  going  to  the  county  magistrate  to  get 
his  yamen  runners  to  try  to  hunt  it  up,  and  mys¬ 
teriously  obtained  the  money  back  again. 

She  became  no  inconsiderable  factor  in  build¬ 
ing  up  the  church  in  one  center  of  our  country 


“ Praying  Through’ ’  a  Wayward  Son  25 


field.  And,  in  reward,  our  Lord  finally  seemed  to 
say  of  her,  as  He  did  long  ago  of  another:  “Oh, 
woman,  great  is  thy  faith!  Be  it  unto  thee  as 
thou  wilt !  ’ ’  Always  merciful  and  gracious  to  His 
faithful  ones,  God  took  a  strange  way  to  answer 
this  mother’s  prayer,  even  as  He  did  to  grant 
Monica’s  petition. 

And  this  is  the  way  it  happened.  Early  one 
year  this  son,  penniless  after  a  debauch,  went  to 
a  German  coal  mine  along  the  German  railroad 
in  Shantung,  to  get  employment.  While  working 
underground  a  terrible  explosion  and  cave-in  oc¬ 
curred,  and  he,  with  more  than  a  hundred  other 
miners,  was  imprisoned,  to  face  a  slow  and  hor¬ 
rible  death.  In  this  situation  he  had  time  to  think 
of  his  sins.  The  folly  of  his»  course  became  mani¬ 
fest  to  him,  and  he  vowed  that,  if  God  would  save 
him,  he  would  accept  Christ  and  begin  to  comfort 
and  honor  his  mother.  The  Lord  heard  him  from 
the  depths  of  the  pit  and  delivered  him ;  he  sought 
out  his  mother,  confessed  his  sins  to  her  and  to 
God,  asked  and  received  forgiveness,  and  began 
a  diligent  study  of  the  Word.  Later  he  was  bap¬ 
tized  and  acted  as  if  he  had  the  viewpoint  of 
Browning’s  resurrected  Lazarus.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  find  a  mother  more  overjoyed  in  the 
happy  issue  of  her  prayers  than  Mrs.  Wang.  She 
knows  now  what  the  words  of  Jesus  mean,  “Go 
in  peace ;  thy  faith  hath  saved  thee.  ’  ’ 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  SOUL’S  TRAGEDY  AND  TRIUMPH 


In  a  building  near  our  little  church  in  Tai  Tung 
Chen,  Leng  Shu  Ivien  recently  departed  this  life. 
Much  of  good  and  evil  was  packed  into  his  career. 
On  his  trail  the  furies  camped  hot.  The  Chinese 
said  of  him:  “ Often  snared  in  the  devil’s  net”; 
and  truly  it  was  through  peril,  toil  and  pain  that 
he  climbed  the  steep  ascent  to  heaven.  But  we 
rest  assured  that  God,  who  mercifully  forgives  a 
real  repentant,  gave  him  abundant  entrance  into 
heaven. 

I  went  to  see  him  before  he  died,  and  the  fol¬ 
lowing  tale  he  told,  the  story  of  his  own  soul’s 
tragedy  and  triumph. 

In  the  terrible  year  of  the  Boxer  uprising,  when 
terror  stalked  openly  among  the  millions  of  Shan¬ 
tung  Province  (where  the  Boxer  cataclysm  origi¬ 
nated),  and  when  the  members  of  “The  Big  Knife 
Society”  and  “The  Order  of  Patriotic  Fists” 
were  making  it  their  devilish  business*  to  ferret 
out  and  torture  every  confessor  of  Jesus  who 
could  be  seized,  many  Christians  of  our  field  fled 
into  Tsingtao. 


26 


A  Soul’s  Tragedy  and  Triumph 


27 


One  was  a  man  in  his  prime,  Leng  Shu  Kien, 
reported  to  be  one  of  the  three  brightest  and 
ablest  graduates  of  Tung  Chow  College.  During 
those  dread  summer  days  of  1900,  Leng  acted  as 
one  of  the  evangelists  in  our  station;  he  was 
zealous  and  busy,  but  as  yet  had  not  entered  the 
furnace  of  God’s  testing,  which  every  man  some 
day  must  do  to  prove  himself,  of  what  stuff  he  is 
made,  and  how  leal  he  is  to  the  King  of  kings. 

The  great  bay  and  roadstead  of  Tsingtao  were 
full  of  German  cruisers  and  transports.  The 
place  was  a  beehive  in  preparation  for  the 
punitive  advance  on  Tientsin  and  Peking. 

For  all  this  the  American  missionary  had  no 
time  or  strength.  There  was  another  swarm  that 
engaged  him — the  refugee  Christians  who  had  fled 
in  from  the  country.  Terror-stricken,  some  hud¬ 
dled  like  a  flock  of  sheep  in  this  strange,  new- 
grown  foreign  city;  others,  without  intermission, 
besought  the  foreign  shepherd  to  help  them  save 
their  families.  Between  efforts  to  assist  these 
helpless  ones  who  leaned  so  heavily  upon  him, 
and  to  devise  means  to  protect  the  country  Chris¬ 
tians  out  in  the  villages,  the  missionary  was  taxed 
beyond  his  strength. 

In  the  midst  of  such  distractions  and  anxieties 
the  German  general,  Waldersee,  afterward  to  be 
chosen  commander-in-chief  of  the  eight  allied 
armies,  sent  to  the  American  missionary  to  learn 


28 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


if  he  knew  Of  an  alert,  able,  foreign-speaking 
Chinese  who  could  accompany  him  as  translator 
to  the  seat  of  disturbance.  Leng  Shu  Kien,  in 
his  pride  and  strength,  offered  himself  and  was 
the  man  chosen.  What  honor  to  be  sought  of  for¬ 
eigners  of  valor  and  might!  What  prestige  for 
an  unknown  Chinese  youth  to  become  the  boon 
companion  and  confidant  of  renowned  ones ! 

Finally  the  great  day  came ;  all  was-  ready  for 
the  campaign  of  punishment.  Animals,  muni¬ 
tions,  provisions  and  soldiers  were  safely  aboard. 
Amid  a  festive  scene,  long  to  be  remembered,  the 
mighty  ships  in  gala  attire  moved  slowly  away 
from  the  great  granite  docks*  and  railway  piers 
that  have  not  their  like  in  the  Far  East.  As  the 
fleet  streamed  down  the  bay,  band  answered  band 
with  stirring  strains.  But  these  vessels  that  could 
make  such  a  noise  of  destruction  were,  as  they 
receded  from  the  land,  silent,  and  that  silence  was 
impressive  with  terrible  significance.  It  was  as 
if  they  were  husbanding  all  their  latent  power 
for  the  errand  of  vengeance  upon  which  they 
were  bent. 

And  Leng  Shu  Kien  was  on  the  flagship !  Yes, 
even  in  the  commander’s  entourage.  It  would 
have  been  fine  had  he  stayed  and  helped  the  dis¬ 
tressed  flock,  but  he  chose  to  go  with  the  expedi¬ 
tion  and  to  enjoy  its  eclat,  what  he  knew 
not  would  be  its  pleasures  of  sin,  for  a  season! 


A  Soul’s  Tragedy  and  Triumph 


29 


The  storming  of  Taku  and  the  fighting  at  Tientsin, 
the  work  of  death  in  it  all — the  tnmnlt,  the  car¬ 
nage,  the  fierce  lnsts  unleashed — terrified  him  be¬ 
yond  measure.  Removed  from  the  uplift  of  Chris¬ 
tian  school  and  his  missionary  friends,  Leng  for 
the  first  time  discovered  his  weakness.  All  the 
restraints  of  his  life  were  suddenly  brushed  aside 
during  those  mad  martial  days.  He  speedily 
found  himself  under  the  pressure  of  the  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  to  be  the  victim  of  tobacco, 
liquor,  and  the  gaming  table.  He  was  flattered 
with  the  attention  that,  for  their  own  ends,  the 
officers  deigned  to  show  him.  And,  consorting 
with  ungodly  ones,  though  in  high  places,  it 
seemed  necessary  to  him  to  conform  to  their  un¬ 
godly  standards.  “Not  fitting  to  offend  them” 
is  perhaps  not  altogether  a  Chinese  character¬ 
istic.  Be  that  as  it  may,  he  saw  that  the  Valley 
of  Decision  lay  immediately  before  him  and  he 
shrank  from  walking  in  it.  He  went  to  the  great 
man  and  pleaded  to  be  released,  without  pay,  from 
his  contract.  His  family  needed  him.  His  grand¬ 
mother  was  ill!  Letters  were  calling  him  home. 
He  was  curtly  told  that  if  he  attempted  to  leave 
his  assignment  he  would  be  shot. 

Sick  at  heart  at  his  own  weakness  and  full  of 
dread  for  the  future,  he  was  forced  to  go  on  with 
the  troops  to  Peking.  There  all  the  powers  of 
hell  were  loosed.  The  siege  ended ;  the  sack,  mem- 


30 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


orable  in  history,  began.  None  conld  stay  it.  The 
frenzy  to  loot  also  took  possession  of  him;  to  loot 
before  it  was  too  late;  to  loot  while  fortunes  in 
silver  ingots  conld,  by  the  initiated,  be  had  by  the 
mere  carrying  of  them  away;  to  loot  while  jewel 
boxes  of  the  most  exquisite  French  design  could 
be  had  (by  the  circle  in  which  he  moved)  for  the 
mere  snatching  of  them  from  the  tables  of 
princely  harems;  to  loot  while  furs  of  fabulous 
value,  packed  away  in  the  chambers  of  decamped 
nobles,  could  be  had  for  the  selecting;  to  loot 
while  sacred  imperial  garments  themselves  could 
be  possessed  for  the  choosing;  to  loot  while  the 
art  treasures  of  palaces  were  still  open  to  him. 

As  the  young  preacher  affirmed,  “I  sold  myself 
body  and  soul  to  the  devil,  and  sated  myself  in 
an  orgy  of  sights  and  sounds  and  deeds  wicked 
beyond  description.  ”  Leng  Shu  Kien  knew  of 
many  Chinese  women  jumping  into  wells  and  tak¬ 
ing  poison  to  avoid  a  worse  fate  at  the  hands  of 
representatives  of  Christian  nations.  He  had  in¬ 
side  knowledge,  in  part  experimental,  as  to  what 
troops  (the  Japs)  were  considered  “ smoothest” 
in  getting  booty,  and  what  (the  Russians)  the 
clumsiest.  He  watched  international  police  squads 
take  out  their  victims  and  saw  them  pose  before 
the  camera  just  as  they  were  about  to  behead  the 
doomed  wretches.  He  witnessed  foreign  troops 
hunt  innocent  villagers,  shooting  the  men  like  rab- 


A  Soui/s  Tragedy  and  Triumph 


31 


bits  and  outraging  the  women.  As  Leng  put  it, 
“ I  crawled  on  all  fours  in  the  slimy  depths  of 
devilish  sights  and  indulgence s.” 

At  last  there  was  no  more  use  for  him,  and  rous¬ 
ing  himself  from  his  ghastly  revel,  he  bade  adieu 
to  his  adventitious  glory — its  tinseled  pomp  and 
circumstance — and  started  overland  for  his  mud 
cottage  in  his  mud  village  in  Shantung  Province. 
Several  carts  were  loaded  with  his  loot,  a  haul 
precious  beyond  the  dream  of  avarice  of  any  high¬ 
way  robbers  who  might  be  met  on  the  way. 

Scattering  away  from  Peking  were  thousands 
of  defeated  Boxer  braves.  They  were  not  only 
disappointed ;  they  were  enraged.  They  had  been 
made  the  puppets,  the  empty-handed  dupes,  of 
the  wily  empress  (whom  her  officials,  to  her  face, 
in  ironic  euphemism,  called  6  6  The  Placid 
Buddha,”  but  to  her  back  “The  Old  She-Devil”) ; 
these  bandits  and  soldiers  lined  the  roads  and 
were  desperate.  They  were  mad  for  plunder  and 
revenge.  No  man  could  run  this  gauntlet  and 
escape  with  his  life,  not  to  mention  treasure,  un¬ 
less  he  bluffed  himself  through  as  a  Boxer.  Poor 
Leng  related  that  many  times  he  lied  and  denied 
his  Lord  on  that  fateful  march  in  order  to  keep 
his  skin  and  plunder. 

To  salve  his  conscience  and  show  appreciation 
of  kindness  extended,  he  sent  to  a  missionary 
friend  one  of  his  “souvenirs,”  as  he  called  it.  It 


32 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


was  no  less  than  the  very  case  which  had  con¬ 
tained  the  magnificent  Bible  presented  by  the 
Christian  women  of  China  to  the  Empress  Dow¬ 
ager! — a  gift  and  occasion  marking  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  Church  universal.  It  was  a 
piece  of  loot  out  of  the  sanctum  sanctorum  of  the 
imperial  private  apartments  of  “the  Buddha’ ’ 
herself.  The  costly  Bible  therein  encased  had 
gone  to  a  foreigner,  “one  higher  up”;  but  this 
case  was  “good  picking”  for  a  young  Chinese. 

The  box  was  done  in  imperial  yellow  (forbidden 
to  non-imperial  yellow  mortals),  more  dangerous 
for  him  to  handle  than  TNT. 

Settled  in  his  native  village,  the  devil  speedily 
drove  him  from  one  excess  to  another,  until  he 
was  quite  crazy  in  his  colossal  egotism,  lordly 
pride,  contemptuous  disdain,  and  pseudo-military 
imperiousness,  tyrannizing  over  his  humble 
neighbors.  To  drown  memory,  he  drank  hard  and 
lived  fast,  until  delirium  tremens  had  him  in  the 
toils.  He  ran  through  the  streets  naked,  or 
brandishing  knives,  and  attempting  to  kill  anyone 
who  got  in  his  way.  In  a  frenzy  of  brute  rage 
he  murderously  dashed  his  little  child  off  the  hang 
(Chinese  brick  bed),  which  outrage  later  resulted 
in  a  mortal  disease.  He  beat  his  wife  repeatedly 
almost  to  death.  Terror  reigned  all  about  him. 

Meantime  he  strutted  about  in  robes  the  beauty 
and  costliness  of  which  amazed  and  struck  awe 


A  Soul’s  Tragedy  and  Triumph 


33 


into  the  simple  villagers.  Gradually  their  first 
fear  of  him  changed  into  hate  and  disgust.  Green- 
eyed  envy  began  to  whisper,  and  finally  it  leaked 
out  to  the  county  magistrate  that  imperial  gar¬ 
ments  were  in  his  possession.  This  meant  death ; 
and,  as  Leng  was  reported  to  have  loot,  wealth 
untold,  a  unique  opportunity  was  offered  for 
“squeeze.”  What  official  in  his  senses  could  let 
such  a  chance  pass  by  unimproved?  Moreover, 
it  was  all  so  easy.  In  doing  Leng  to  death  for 
“squeeze”  the  magistrate  could  pose  before  his 
superiors,  and  with  good  face,  as  a  just  judge 
and  a  patriotic  doer  of  duty. 

So  one  fell  day  the  yamen  henchman  suddenly 
pounced  upon  Leng,  wallowing  so  deeply  in  the 
mire  of  sin,  and  trying  thereby  so  desperately  to 
drown  conscience  and  forget  the  innocent  days 
when  he  was  poor  and  useful  and  happy!  And 
he  found  himself  landed  in  a  Chinese  prison !  And 
in  warm  weather !  The  condition  beggars  descrip¬ 
tion.  The  prison  had  no  beds,  dirt  floors,  no  sani¬ 
tation — prisoners  just  sat  around  on  the  ground 
amid  filth  and  vermin  and  stench,  to  rot.  A 
Chinese  prisoner,  if  he  has  means,  usually  fur¬ 
nishes  his  own  food,  or  starves.  He  usually  fur¬ 
nishes  some  for  the  henchman,  too.  Indeed,  he 
hands  out  blackmail  to  various  grades  of  the 
prison  underlings  for  every  bit  of  nourishment 
and  for  every  drop  of  water  that  is  doled  out  to 


34 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


him.  As  long  as  a  prisoner  gnilty  of  serious 
offense  has  money,  he  is  preserved  after  a  fashion 
till  the  last  possible  cash  is  wrung  from  him  or 
from  his  family.  Then  he  may  die  as  soon  as  he 
pleases. 

When  Leng  balked  at  too  big  a  gouge  the  screws 
were  put  on.  The  Ya  I  (henchmen)  are  ac¬ 
quainted  with  every  choice  mode  of  torture  and 
know  how  to  apply  it  to  the  point  of  exquisite 
nicety.  If  the  prisoner  is  recalcitrant  it  is  easy 
to  bring  him  to  terms ;  just  put  the  cangue  around 
his  neck,  so  his  hands  cannot  reach  his  face,  and 
let  him  sit  bareheaded  in  the  boiling  sun,  unable 
to  scratch  off  a  swarm  of  stinging  flies  that  settle 
on  his  bleeding,  ulcerated  neck.  Or  lock  his  feet 
and  hands  in  the  stocks  and  let  him  rest  in  that 
position  all  night  while  the  vermin  nibble  at  him. 
Or  press  hot  chains  into  his  naked  flesh ;  or  pinch 
and  crack  his  joints;  or  bamboo  him  till  the  skin 
jumps  in  chunks  from  his  body  and  the  raw  flesh 
lies  on  his  bones  in  waves  of  welts.  For  centuries 
the  yamen  henchmen  have  been  pastmasters  in 
these  and  all  such  tricks.  For  indubitable  proof 
let  one  study  the  temple  representations  of  the 
tortures  of  the  damned,  as  portrayed  under  the 
direction  of  the  priests,  who  hold  the  people  in  a 
bondage  of  fear.  They  get  these  realistic  concep¬ 
tions  from  what  they  know  is  happening  in  the 
yamen  yards  and  prison  pens. 


A  Soul’s  Tragedy  and  Triumph 


35 


With  all  such  resources  at  his  command  the 
magistrate  piously  cracked  this  whip  over  the 
head  of  the  guilty,  body-wrecked,  terror-stricken 
Leng:  “You  know  you  ought  to  be  shaved  with 
the  big  razor  [i.  e.,  have  your  head  cut  off],  and 
unless  you  give  up  your  last  cash,  I’ll  do  you  to 
death,  and  under  the  law!” 

Thus  months  passed,  with  no  surcease  of  tor¬ 
ture,  no  hope  of  release.  The  only  thing  to  look 
forward  to  when  the  gradually  drying-up  stream 
of  blackmail  should  have  been  dribbled  out  to  its 
last  drop  was  decapitation.  If  horrors  could  be 
multiplied,  Leng  was  occasionally  threatened, 
when  less  money  was  forthcoming  than  some  fam¬ 
ily  member  was  expected  to  bring,  with  Ling  Chi 
(the  death  of  a  thousand  cuts),  skillful  slicing  of 
the  flesh  in  many  pieces  before  the  vital  organs 
succumbed  to  such  treatment.  Leng  was  now 
learning,  experimentally,  the  meaning  of  James’ 
objurgation :  ‘  ‘  Come  now,  ye  rich,  weep  and  howl 
for  your  miseries  that  are  coming  upon  you. 
Your  riches  are  corrupted  and  your  garments  are 
moth-eaten.  Your  gold  and  silver  are  rusted;  and 
their  rust  shall  be  for  a  testimony  against  you, 
and  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  fire,”  and  “the  way 
of  the  transgressor  is  hard.” 

Then  one  day  Miss  Vaughan,  of  Tsingtau  Sta¬ 
tion,  visited  a  village  near  Leng’s  to  hold  a 
Woman’s  Bible  Class.  The  elder  of  the  local 


36 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


church  came  and  besought  her  to  give  him  her 
calling  card  to  give  to  the  persecuting  magistrate 
and  plead  for  mercy  for  Leng.  Armed  with  this 
bit  of  magic  paper,  the  symbol  of  the  now  vindi¬ 
cated  and  resistless  foreigner,  the  elder  could 
with  face  beg  the  judge  to  relent.  Thus  the  offi¬ 
cial  might  have  mercy  on  him  and  pardon  him. 
But  Miss  Vaughan  was  obdurate,  and  the  elder, 
though  a  good  man  and  a  friend  of  hers,  retired 
chagrined  and  angry  at  her  hardness  of  heart. 

Soon  the  news  spread  that  “Han  Ku  Niang” 
(Miss  Vaughan),  mighty  in  prayer,  as  they  called 
her,  was  at  Tai  Tai  Twang;  and  Leng’s  mother 
and  wife,  faithful,  anguished  creatures,  came  with 
all  speed  to  see  her.  They  likewise  pleaded, 
pleaded  desperately,  pleaded  almost  all  night  for 
the  card-presenting.  But  in  vain.  At  last  they 
did  only  what  a  Chinese  does  in  the  direst  straits, 
and  what,  when  it  is  performed  to  them,  few 
Chinese  dare  resist.  They  prostrated  themselves 
before  her  and  made  the  koa  ton — they  knocked 
their  heads  on  the  ground  before  her.  Under 
these  terrible  conditions,  in  such  dire  straits,  the 
Chinese  say  that  they  interpret  the  Iwa  ton  to 
mean,  ‘  ‘  Grant  my  petition  or  slay  me.  ’ 7 

In  the  course  of  their  visit,  Miss  Vaughan  re¬ 
peatedly  suggested  that  they  pray  with  her  for 
the  miserable  Leng,  but  the  poor  creatures,  weak 
in  faith  and  almost  distracted,  had  ignored  this. 


A  Soul’s  Tragedy  and  Triumph 


37 


Now,  with  their  last  hope  in  the  arm  of  flesh 
broken,  they  were  ready  to  try  her  way.  So  Miss 
Vanghan  instructed  them  how  they  might  pray 
prevailingly  with  her. 

First,  they  were  sincerely  to  repent  and  confess 
their  own  sins. 

Second,  they  were  to  dedicate  themselves 
wholly  to  the  Lord. 

Third,  they  were  to  pray  God  to  give  Leng  a 
heart  of  repentance  and  pray  that,  if  he  would 
honor  God ,  he  might  be  released. 

Then  for  a  year  Miss  Vaughan  gave  herself, 
with  a  few  sympathetic  spirits,  to  pray  for  Leng. 

A  year  after,  to  a  day,  Miss  Vaughan  was  hold¬ 
ing  a  meeting  in  that  same  village;  while  they 
were  praying  for  the  miserable  Leng,  a  messenger 
entered  and  said  to  Miss  Vaughan,  4 ‘Leng  Shu 
Kien  is  out  of  prison !  Leng  Shu  Kien  is  in  this 
village.  Leng  Shu  Kien  is  reviling  you  for  pray¬ 
ing  for  him.  He  says  that  never,  during  all  his 
life,  has  he  heard  of  such  goings  on.  Of  prayer 
meetings  carried  on  like  yours,  so  not  according 
to  custom. 9  9  The  little  company  began  to  pray  the 
more  earnestly,  that  today  he  might  repent  and 
confess  his  sins.  That  afternoon,  irresistibly 
drawn  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  came  to  the  meeting, 
and  made  a  clean  breast  of  his  sins,  asking  God 
and  his  family  and  neighbors  to  forgive  him,  be¬ 
ginning  a  new  life  of  service. 


38 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


It  was  the  toilsome  climb  of  the  released  jail¬ 
bird.  Not  only  Christians,  but  missionaries, 
fonnd  it  hard  to  believe  he  was  converted,  or  conld 
be.  Bnt  Miss  Vaughan  and  her  little  band  prayed 
on.  And  Leng,  despite  abundant  sneers,  kept  his 
feet;  he  became  a  leader  and  a  personal  worker 
among  the  yonng  men  of  onr  Tsingtan  church. 
And  the  sincerity  of  his  confession  none  could 
doubt. 

His  earnings  he  put  into  real  estate  in  business 
sections  in  Tsingtau,  and  the  earnings  from  that 
he  set  aside  for  the  use  of  the  church  organization 
to  which  the  Christians  of  his  village  belonged. 
This  annuity,  provided  for  in  his  will,  helped  his 
country  church  to  call  its  own  pastor  and  to  do 
considerable  home  mission  work.  Besides,  his  ex¬ 
ample  was  stimulating  to  many  Christians  and 
heathen  who  had  earlier  known  him. 

But  his  suffering  had  produced  lung  trouble 
and,  spitting  blood,  he  came  to  the  East  Suburb 
Hospital  to  die.  Accompanied  by  an  elder,  his 
true  friend  and  yoke-fellow  in  the  Lord,  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  little  band  who  had  prayed  him  out  of 
the  depths  of  hell,  I  visited  him  shortly  before 
his  death  and  held  a  little  service.  He  witnessed 
a  good  witness  to  the  saving  power  of  Jesus 
Christ,  his  Lord,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  his  old 
college  mates  and  friends,  now  leaders  of  the 
church  throughout  this  province.  In  it  he  said, 


A  Soul’s  Tragedy  and  Triumph 


39 


“Beware  of  covetousness,  which  is  idolatry  and 
a  root  of  many  kinds  of  evil.  They  that  are 
minded  to  be  rich  fall  into  many  kinds  of  tempta¬ 
tions  and  are  snared  of  many  foolish  and  hurtful 
lusts,  such  as  drown  men  in  destruction  and  per¬ 
dition.  For  the  love  of  money  is  a  root  of  all 
kinds  of  evil:  which  some  reaching  after  have 
been  led  astray  from  the  faith ;  and  have  pierced 
themselves  through  with  many  sorrows.  Also 
especially  beware  of  the  love  of  fine  clothes,  our 
weakness,  which  brought  about  my  downfall.  I 
commend  you  all  to  the  service  and  salvation  of 
Jesus!  Amen!” 

We  believe  that  in  glory  he  looks  upon  the  face 
of  the  Lord  of  glory,  being  numbered  among  the 
saints  who  came  up  out  of  the  love  of  the  world 
and  its  great  tribulation  into  the  eternal  felicity 
of  His  saints. 


CHAPTER  V 


A  GREAT  WALLED  CITY  TAKEN 
BY  SURPRISE 

The  walled  cities  are  the  seats  of  the  Chinese 
gentry — rich,  powerful,  elegant  (after  Chinese 
standards),  educated  in  the  ancient  learning, 
glorying  in  its  degrees.  These  aristocrats  have, 
under  Satan,  constituted  a  powerful  barrier  to 
the  progress  of  the  Gospel  in  the  Land  of  Sinim 
— another  “ great  wall  of  China,”  but  vaster  than 
the  famed  one,  and  unspeakably  more  impressive 
in  the  bulk  of  its  pride,  exclusiveness,  lofty  pre¬ 
tensions,  contempt  and  hate  of  the  foreign  devils. 

Several  years  ago,  in  company  with  my  hon¬ 
ored  senior  colleague,  the  Rev.  W.  M.  Hayes, 
D.  D.,  I  visited  such  a  walled  city,  ancient  before 
the  discovery  of  America,  one  of  five  big  ones  in 
our  station  field.  The  natural  importance  of  this 
place  as  an  administrative  center  is  enhanced  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  located  on  the  German  railroad. 
The  inveterate  prejudice  of  its  inhabitants  against 
foreigners  is  quite  beyond  belief.  It  was  prob¬ 
ably  increased  by  the  fact  that  the  Germans  oc¬ 
cupied  their  city  until  after  the  defeat  of  Russia 


40 


A  Walled  City  Taken  by  Surprise  41 


by  Japan.  These  city  folks  were  supposed  to  be 
impervious.  A  German  Protestant  Mission  and 
the  Catholic  Mission,  neither  lacking  in  learning, 
experience,  or  ability,  or  in  funds  to  push  their 
work,  had  tackled  them.  Both  had  been  frozen 
out. 

The  gentry  there  had  seen  the  Bible  translated 
into  Kuan  Hwa  (the  vernacular) ;  but  they  turned 
up  their  nose  at  it,  as  trash  beneath  their  notice, 
though  the  language  of  the  translation  was  what 
they  all  spoke,  and  was  excellently  done.  They 
despised  it  because,  forsooth,  it  was  not  put  into 
Wen  Li.  The  moment  they  saw  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  printed  in  the  ordinary  “talk  language,” 
they  cast  it  aside.  Wen  Li  is  “high”  stilted 
Chinese,  abbreviated  and  intensely  idiomatic.  It 
was  as  if  you  would  insult  an  American  by  offer¬ 
ing  him  the  American  Revision,  instead  of  a  Bible 
in  the  language  of  Beowulf.  Their  pride  of 
scholarship  in  the  Chinese  Classics  had  run  well- 
nigh  mad. 

Our  only  human  hold  on  the  city  was  this: 
Several  Christians  of  one  of  our  nearby  country 
churches,  supporting  its  own  pastor,  had  formed 
a  company  and  gone  into  the  East  Suburb — they 
could  not  get  into  the  city  itself — and  had  begun 
selling  bean  cakes.  Please  note  that  this  humble 
business  was  one  that  would  bring  these  Chris¬ 
tians  into  relationship  with  peasants,  not  with 


42 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


gentry.  But  our  men  were  sturdy  of  faith  and 
had  prayer  power,  and  they  expected  to  do  some¬ 
thing  for  God.  Speedily  their  store  became  a 
rendezvous  for  many  of  their  fellow  farmer  Chris¬ 
tians  who  had  to  market  at  this  large  center.  And 
they  began  to  pray  together  for  this  hoary, 
wicked  city,  that  God  would,  in  their  midst,  open 
a  way — they  knew  not  how — for  “the  Doctrine.” 

Then  Dr.  Hayes  and  I  received  an  invitation  to 
go  and  meet  with*  them — which  we  accepted.  That 
night  after  store  closing,  our  little  company 
earnestly  besought  God  to  touch  the  hearts  of 
Kao  Mi’s  heathen,  aristocratic  leaders.  The  next 
morning  we  had  to  leave.  But  that  evening  some¬ 
thing  wonderful  happened.  Some  of  the  gentry, 
Nicodemus  like,  “happened  in.”  To  be  sure,  they 
were  young  men — older  ones  would  not  deign  to 
come — and  these  came  from  curiosity.  But  that 
night  these  elegant  young  bloods,  clad  in  rich, 
fur-lined  brocaded  silks,  got  their  eyes  opened  a 
little.  They  found  out  that  we  were  not  ogres, 
would  not  even  bite ;  in  fact,  that  we  were  not  so 
bad  as  pictured. 

The  ice  was  broken.  They  would  associate  with 
us.  And  the  Holy  Spirit  answered  our  prayers 
as  to  things  difficult  of  accomplishment,  and  step 
by  step  gave  us  solid  standing  ground  in  their 
midst.  He  moved  upon  the  Christian  business 
men  to  give  a  piece  of  ground  for  a  chapel  build- 


A  Walled  City  Taken  by  Surprise  43 


ing  and  part  of  the  funds  therefor.  In  large  faith 
they  deeded  it  to  the  nearby  country  church  or¬ 
ganization  “  until  such  time  as  a  church  can  be 
organized  in  the  city,  when  the  property  shall  re¬ 
vert  to  that  city  church.’ ’  If  an  outsider  only 
knew  the  difficulties  that  faced  them  when  these 
four  Christian  men  made  that  fine  proviso,  he 
would  feel  almost  like  classing  their  decision 
along  with  that  of  many  a  hero  of  Hebrews 
Eleven,  who,  when  all  seeming  was  against  him, 
obeyed  the  command  and  went  forward. 

The  chapel  next  door  to  “our  store”  at  once 
gave  us  a  religious  center  of  good  repute,  espe¬ 
cially  as  the  magistrate  there  gave  it  his  formal, 
written  sanction,  putting  up  a  yamen  proclama¬ 
tion  to  that  effect.  It  rapidly  became  popular. 
The  character  of  our  business  men  and  the 
evangelist  recommended  the  place.  The  younger 
gentry,  realizing  that  these  men  had  something 
that  they  did  not  possess,  were  willing  to 
fraternize  with  them,  coming  often  to  visit  and 
more  and  more  to  learn  ‘  ‘  the  Doctrine.  ’  ’  As  their 
eyes  gradually  opened  to  the  light  that  streams 
from  Christ,  and  as  they  began  to  understand 
some  of  the  multitudinous  corollary  blessings 
that  flow  from  the  Cross,  a  profound  dissatisfac¬ 
tion  with  the  old  order  grew  in  them.  They 
cursed  it — its  blindness,  its  turpitude,  its  hope¬ 
lessness,  its  lifelessness. 


44 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


Moreover,  they  liked  the  place  because  it  was 
a  Chinese  institution.  Though  often  visiting  the 
chapel  and  furnishing  an  evangelist  for  it,  I 
placed  it  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  nearest 
Chinese  minister,  and  from  the  start  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Chinese  took  great  interest  in  it,  and  felt 
keenly  their  responsibility  for  it. 

At  last  there  came  a  day  when  my  food  box  and 
bedding  failed  to  arrive;  and  to  my  surprise  the 
leader  of  the  gentry  invited  me  to  stay  at  his 
house.  And  there  I  saw  eye-opening  things — fine 
old  Chinese  furniture,  rare  and  costly  vases, 
beautiful  plants;  also  American  clocks,  clothes, 
and  photographs*  galore.  And  I  slept,  on  a  for¬ 
eign  bed!  Like  Cornelius,  my  host  (I  call  the 
gentry  leader  that,  because  now  he  always  insists 
that  I  be  his  guest)  assembled  his  household  to 
hear  the  Gospel.  And  from  that  time  every  visit 
was  the  occasion  of  his  inviting  some  of  his 
friends  to  meet  me  and  hear  the  Gospel.  At  first 
they,  like  Nicodemus,  came  in  the  night;  but  as 
we  became  better  acquainted,  openly,  and  at  all 
times  of  the  day. 

Things  have  developed  rapidly.  Even  two 
years  before  the  establishing  of  the  republic 
(which  guaranteed  religious  liberty),  an  influ¬ 
ential  family  of  officials  who  had  charge  of  a  gov¬ 
ernment  school  for  boys,  hired,  in  open  defiance 
of  the  Manchu  government  instructions,  two  of 


A  Walled  City  Taken  by  Surprise  45 


our  Christians  as  teachers,  who  daily  expounded 
the  Scripture  in  the  school.  From  that  family 
one  brother  has  become  a  zealous  evangelist,  and 
out  of  that  school  of  thirty  boys  have  come  many 
Christians  and  inquirers. 

Another  gentry  family  of  four  brothers  and  a 
father,  all  officials,  have  established  a  girls  *  school 
in  their  compound,  with  one  of  our  best  women 
Christians  as  teacher. 

We  have  sent  Bible  women,  at  the  request  of 
such  families,  to  instruct  their  women,  who  have 
proved  eager  learners,  and  have  received  their 
“ doctrine  teachers”  most  cordially. 

Imagine  what  it  means  that  these  people  should 
propose  that  we  unite  with  them  in  establishing 
a  boys’  school,  in  which: 

1.  They  would  furnish  the  teacher  of  the 
Chinese  classics  and  we  the  teacher  of  Western 
learning. 

2.  We  make  the  choice  of  the  books  to  be  used 
in  the  Union  School,  and  morning  and  evening 
chapel  compulsory. 

3.  At  least  one-fourth  of  the  course  is  to  be 
devoted  to  the  teaching  of  Christian  subjects. 

Kepeatedly  I  have  accepted  the  invitation  of 
the  magistrate  to  speak  before  his  official  schools, 
especially  before  the-  normal  school,  where  hun¬ 
dreds  of  young  men,  in  six  months  ’,  nine  months 
one-year  and  two-year  courses,  are  hurriedly  try- 


46 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


ing  to  fit  themselves  to  meet  the  needs  of  schools 
being  opened  by  the  republic. 

Christians  in  Kao  Mi  have  steadily  multiplied 
from  the  gentry  ranks,  all  baptized  by  the  native 
pastor.  There  have  been  two  especially  interest¬ 
ing  and  helpful  human  factors  in  this  consumma¬ 
tion. 

The  gentry  have  seen  in  their  midst  the  superi¬ 
ority  of  Christian  schools  and  teachers.  It  has 
been  as  eye-opening  as  humbling.  They  have  been 
profoundly  impressed  by  the  fact  that  our  Chris¬ 
tian  system  produces  students  with  usable  knowl¬ 
edge  at  their  command,  better  than  anything  of 
which  they  had  conceived.  Our  teachers  of 
English  can  do  something  more  than  “  teach 
English  to  the  letter  Gr.  ’  ’  They  know  geography, 
mathematics,  calisthenics,  music,  and  many  other 
things  involved  in  the  idea  of  si  wen  (Western 
learning).  It  commands  their  respect  that  the 
district  magistrate  sends  his  teachers  to  cur  men 
to  learn  singing,  setting-up  drill,  arithmetic,  and 
to  get  a  little  peep  into  world  doings.  Above  all, 
these  men  have  character  and  are  to  be  trusted. 

Then  Christianity  has  brought  to  many  of  the 
Kao  Mi  gentry  a  new  sense  of  the  value  of  girls 
and  the  dignity  and  worth  of  educated  women. 
Mine  host  has  confided  to  me  that  the  thing  that 
impressed  him  more  than  all  else  with  the  de¬ 
sirableness  and  satisfyingness  of  the  Christian 


A  Walled  City  Taken  by  Surprise  47 


religion  was  what  he  witnessed  as  a  guest  in  onr 
home,  even  the  baptism  of  onr  yonngest  daughter 
— such  humble  means  can  the  Holy  Spirit  use  to 
reach  a  man’s  heart.  The  ceremony  was-  per¬ 
formed  by  Dr.  Hayes  in  the  presence  of  this 
heathen  man  and  a  few  missionary  friends 
“refugeeing”  with  us  during  troublous  revolution 
days. 

To  think  that  he  and  others  should*  be  invited 
from  a  distance  for  the  sake  of  a  girl  baby;  that' 
Dr.  Hayes  should  leave  his  work  in  another  city 
to  administer  this  sacrament,  quite  overwhelmed 
him  with  a  changed  conception  of  life.  The  music, 
the  presence  of  foreign  ladies,  cultured,  and'  hon¬ 
ored  of  men,  the  brooding  peace,  the  simplicity, 
dignity,  and  solemn  beauty  of  the  service,  touched 
the  inner  chords  of  his-  nature. 

His  new  grip  on  life  that  has  stirred  him  to  do 
something  for  others-  has  been  manifested  in  his 
opening  a  Christian  middle  school  for  boys-  in  a 
fine  series  of  rooms  on  his*  own  compound — Chris¬ 
tian >  I  say,  because  two*  of  our  ablest  Christian 
teachers  have  been  employed  in  his  school;  the 
course  conforms  to  our  mission  school  curriculum, 
compulsory  morning  and  evening  worship  ob¬ 
tains  ;  also  Sabbath  worship,  marching  in  a  body 
to  the  chapel  forenoon  and  afternoon;  and  the 
native  pastor  is  the  welcome  guest  and  presiding 
good  genius  there  over  it  all — and  remember  that 


48 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


these  are  heathen  boys  out  of  heathen  families. 
To  farther  prove  his  interest  mine-  host  has*  at 
considerable  expense  outfitted  the  school  with 
furniture,  maps,  charts,  etc.,  and  he  plans’  this 
year  to  build  and  run  on  similar  lines  a  girls’ 
school  in  another  yard  of  his  compound. 

In  addition  to  this,  he  has  established  a  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  in  the  city.  After  seeing  ours  in*  our 
Tsingtau  church,  he  wanted  one  just  like  it  in  his 
city,  and  proceeded  to  organize  one  (minus  the 
active  membership)  from*  among  his  friends,  with 
the  accessory  of  a  reading  room  where  the  elite 
of  his  clan  could  come  and  leisurely  soak  in  the 
Christian  literature  which  we  have  provided. 

As  a  result  of  his  interest  aroused  and  that  of 
his  friends,  the  East  Suburb  Chapel  cannot  hold 
the  Christians  who  now  attend  the  meetings. 
Another  reason  for  the  happy  development  is  the 
attitude  of  the  Christian  business  men  toward  the 
Sabbath.  On  Sundays  from  their  store  front 
always  hangs  this  sign:  “This  is  the  Sabbath;  no 
business  today.”  While  the  daily  market  of  that 
busy  street  surges  in  a  roar  all  around  them,  they 
stand  like  Daniel  and  his  friends — worshiping 
God  on  his  holy  day  in  his  holy  sanctuary.  Also 
the  members  of  this  firm  preach  to  their  cus¬ 
tomers,  and  during  dull  hours  go  out  into  the  sur¬ 
rounding  villages  and  herald  Christ.  The  Lord 
is  faithful  and  has  prospered  his  righteous  ser- 


A  Walled  City  Taken  by  Surprise  49 


vants.  And  they  have  purchased  a  two-story  tang 
pu  (pawnshop),  the  upper  story  of  which  is  to  be 
fitted  np  for  an  additional  school,  and  the  first 
story  for  a  chnrch.  This  is  only  a  temporary 
arrangement. 

Recently  we  called  on  the  magistrate  to  invite 
his  co-operation  in  erecting  a  new  church  build¬ 
ing.  As  things  are  in  China,  he  could,  if  he  so 
desired,  instantly  nip  the  project  in  the  bud,  espe¬ 
cially  as  this  is  a  Chinese  church,  not  a  foreign 
mission  affair.  He,  however,  took  great  interest 
in  the  matter,  and  promised  a  generous  subscrip¬ 
tion,  and  issued  a  proclamation  asking  the  busi¬ 
ness  men  to  contribute.  His  wife  and  mother  are 
Christians.  His  good-will  is  partly  due  to  their 
interest  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  years  ago  he 
was  a  pupil  of  Hr.  Hayes  in  the  provincial  uni¬ 
versity,  and  the  flavor  of  Hr.  Hayes  ’  able,  schol¬ 
arly  and  consecrated  witness  is  with  him  still. 

After  talking  with  him  several  times  about 
establishing  an  official  school  for  the  daughters 
of  gentry,  he  has  finally  opened  one.  His  wife 
and  mother  act  as  patronesses.  He  has  called  a 
fine  Christian  woman  of  our  choice  as  the  lady 
teacher  of  that  school.  Unbound  feet  are  a  sine 
qua  non  of  entrance,  and  the  school  is  full  to  its 
capacity. 

Though  used  to  surprises  in  this  city,  one  of 
the  biggest  came  when  mine  host  and  the  magis- 


50 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


trate,  speaking  for  several  of  the  leading  gentry, 
asked  me  to  accompany  them  to  the  first  National 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  Convention,  held  in  Peking,  Decem¬ 
ber,  1912.  It  was  a  great  venture  for  them.  Of 
course,  I  jumped  at  the  chance.  And  the  rich 
fruitage  of  that  convention,  not  only  in  the  hearts 
of  the  gentry  of  this  city,  but  of  many  rich  and 
influential  heathen  in  other  centers  now  for  the 
first  time  face  to  face  with  the  truth  in  Christ — 
who  can  calculate? 

And  this  is  the  city  that  only  a  few  months  ago 
was  lorded  over  by  a  queue-wearing  Manchu  offi¬ 
cial  of  the  hopeless  old  regime.  During  the  revo¬ 
lution  he  was  seizing  even  our  schoolboys  and 
shutting  them  up  in  a  foul  prison  for  the  crime 
of  cutting  their  queues.  When,  after  repeated 
fruitless  attempts,  I  was  at  last  able  to  get  in  to 
them,  some  forty  were  chained,  hand  and  foot  in 
a  sitting  posture  in  that  low,  dirty  den,  their 
families  distressed  beyond  measure,  some  of  their 
women  folk  dying  from  anxiety  and  fear. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  the  Christians 
of  this  city  have  grown  greatly  in  numbers.  They 
have  organized  their  own  church,  invited  their 
own  pastor,  and  they  are  in  possession  of  an  ex¬ 
tensive  compound,  on  which  are  located  their  own 
church  building,  schools  for  boys  and  girls,  read¬ 
ing  and  classrooms  for  the  general  public,  and  a 
pastor’s  manse.  The  plant  is  located  on  the  “big 


A  Walled  City  Taken  by  Surprise  51 


road”  past  which  each  day  a  stream  of  people 
pour  into  and  out  of  the  county  seat.  Classes, 
extending  from  ten  days  to  two  weeks  for  Bible 
study  and  for  communion  preparation,  are  fre¬ 
quently  held.  Recently  the  Session  met  for  a 
solid  week  examining  over  200  candidates  for 
membership,  some  fifty  of  whom  were  finally 
received. 

In  an  age-long,  sin-encrusted  gentry  center, 
what  hath  God  wrought,  and  all  through  earnest 
prayer  and  through  the  manner  of  life  wrought 
out  of  that  prayer. 


CHAPTER  VI 


WHEN  A  HEAD  CHURCH  LISTENED 
TO  A  BIBLE  STORY 

A  lowering  winter  day  found  ns  at  the  village 
where  the  oldest  of  all  the  eighteen  chnrches  of 
onr  station  field  is  located.  Though  it  was  or¬ 
ganized  many  years  ago,  it  had  the  reputation 
among  the  other  churches  of  the  field  of  being 
“Pang  huai  la,”  helped  financially  by  the  for¬ 
eigners  to  the  point  of  spoiling.  Many  called  it 
the  fifty-year-old  baby.  It  was  New  Year’s  day, 
and  the  great  heathen  festival  of  the  Chinese 
calendar  was  in  full  swing.  For  that  event  even 
many  of  the  beggars  manage  somehow  to  get  a 
little  money  to  buy  better  food  than  usual;  and 
eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,  forgetting  their  woes  for 
a  time.  It  is  pre-eminently  a  time  of  happiness — 
noisy,  carousing,  gambling,  gluttonous  happiness 
— all  the  happiness  that  heathenism  can  muster. 

But  there  was  little  happiness  among  the  Chris¬ 
tians  of  that  village  on  the  day  of  our  arrival. 
In  fact,  they  were  badly  discouraged.  During 
the  previous  year  they  had  given  an  unusually 
unsatisfactory  account  of  their  stewardship  and 


52 


When  a  Dead  Church  Listened 


53 


had  been  rebuked  by  the  finance  committee,  com¬ 
posed  of  an  equal  number  of  missionaries  and 
Chinese  leaders.  The  rebuke  had  taken  the  sharp 
turn  of  cutting  down  the  appropriation  of  the 
Mission  Board  to  their  schools;  indeed,  in  one 
case  the  committee  had  decided  to  give  nothing 
to  assist  a  certain  school  within  their  bounds  for 
the  coming  year,  because  that  school  had  paid  in 
only  five  dollars  of  its  pledged  share  of  twenty- 
five  dollars  toward  the  salary  of  the  teacher. 
And,  as  an  additional  punishment,  the  committee 
had  refused  to  open  a  school  in  that  village  for 
the  coming  year. 

The  church  organization  drew  membership 
from  twenty  neighboring  villages,  and  even  in 
the  principal  village  which  I  was  visiting,  and 
where  the  church  building  was  located,  the  out¬ 
look  was  not  the  brightest  for  opening  their  school 
following  the  New  Year.  Many  of  the  Christians 
were  fairly  well-to-do — according  to  the  stand¬ 
ards  of  Chinese  peasant  villages.  Some  of  them 
were  teachers  and  evangelists,  drawing  relatively 
good  salaries  from  the  Mission.  They  had  re¬ 
paired  their  own  houses,  but  the  house  of  the 
Lord  in  their  midst  they  had  allowed  to  fall  into 
great  disrepair,  and  the  maledictions  pronounced 
by  Haggai  the  prophet  upon  the  children  of  Israel 
for  a  like  grave  offense  hung  over  them.  They 
knew  that  such  a  state  of  affairs  was  disgraceful ; 


54 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


they  were  in  part  ashamed  of  dishonoring  God; 
but  there  were  jealousies  and  heartburnings  be¬ 
tween  families  on  the  same  streets,  with  resulting 
spiritual  impotence.  Doubt  and  suspicion,  envy 
and  strife,  always  and  everywhere  usher  in  such 
a  condition. 

During  the  first  meeting  of  the  revival  services 
held,  while  the  preacher  was  referring  to  the  need 
of  repairing  the  house  of  the  Lord  before  some 
greater  disaster  overtook  them,  a  chunk  of  the 
wall  under  a  beam  supporting  one  section  of  the 
roof  fell  down  on  the  audience.  It  was  a  most 
pointed  intimation  of  the  need  of  the  Christians 
getting  together  and  adopting  some  effective 
plans  ere  the  whole  side  of  the  building  should 
cave  in  upon  them.  The  elders  and  deacons  were 
later  assembled  and  a  list  of  all  the  members  pre¬ 
pared.  On  this  list  was  written  the  amount  of 
money  each  family  had  the  previous  year  sub¬ 
scribed  to  the  church  work;  also  the  amount  of 
land  in  the  possession  of  each  family;  also,  in 
addition  to  the  amount  actually  subscribed,  what 
the  amount  would  have  been  if  the  family  had 
tithed!  The  contrast  was  appalling.  In  many 
instances,  where  the  amount  should  have  been 
anywhere  from  five  to  twenty  tiao,  only  a  few 
hundred  cash  had  been  subscribed;  and  in  many 
cases  the  subscription  had  not  been  paid.  (A 
cash  is  a  small  round  copper  piece  with  a  square 


When  a  Bead  Church  Listened 


55 


hole  in  the  middle,  worth  about  l-5840th  of  an 
American  dollar.)  In  extenuation  of  this  con¬ 
temptible  cheating  of  God,  a  pitiful  plea  of  pov¬ 
erty  had  been  offered ;  but,  poor  as  they  were  ac¬ 
cording  to  our  standard  of  poverty,  the  plea  had 
little  ring  of  sincerity  in  it,  and  with  bad  face  they 
paraded  this  mockery  of  an  excuse. 

At  this  revival  conference  the  Christians  began 
attending  a  forenoon  and  an  afternoon  preaching 
service.  Later  the  Holy  Spirit  made  them  will¬ 
ing,  in  addition,  to  gather  for  two  prayer  meet¬ 
ings  each  day,  one  in  the  early  morning  and  one 
in  the  evening,  at  which  time  the  concrete  needs 
of  the  congregation  were  presented  before  the 
Throne  of  Grace.  When  they  prayed  the  people 
followed  the  custom  of  standing.  All  prayed 
aloud  together,  but  each  prayed  his  own  prayer. 
To  the  uninitiated  it  might  seem  like  a  babel  of 
confusion,  but  it  fits  in  with  the  Chinese  frame 
of  mind,  with  their  clannish  interest  and  with  the 
habit  formed  in  village  schools  where  all  study 
aloud;  and,  when  one  gets  accustomed  to  it,  it 
seems  like  a  unison  of  petitions  offered  before 
the  Great  Father.  In  this  prayer  meeting  it  was 
an  interesting  sign  to  see  the  elders,  hitherto 
somewhat  complacent  over  themselves  as  being 
better  educated  than  their  fellows  and  with  par¬ 
donable  pride  in  themselves  as  skilled  preachers, 
praying  a  new  kind  of  prayer.  One  began  well 


56 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


enough,  but  broke  down.  Weeping  aloud,  he 
likened  his  church  to  Jerusalem  with  its  broken- 
down  walls  when  Nehemiah  led  the  people  back 
from  the  Jewish  captivity  to  look  upon  the  ruins 
and  desolation  of  their  beloved  Zion. 

The  next  day  the  Holy  Spirit  led  the  missionary 
to  preach  on  the  text,  Malachi  3:7-12,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  powerful  challenges  to  the  people 
of  God  in  the  entire  Bible — its  range  of  pointed 
thought,  marvelously  adapted  to  such  a  situation 
— its  statement  of  the  hard-heartedness  of  back¬ 
sliders  and  of  the  heinousness  of  their  sin,  their 
arrogant  and  impudent  questioning  of  God  as  to 
what  they  had  done  wrong.  God’s  plain  state¬ 
ment  that  they  are  thieves  robbing  him  of  the 
tithe  which  is  his  due,  their  debt;  robbing  him 
also  of  gifts  which  are  by  him  expected  in  addi¬ 
tion  after  the  debt  is  paid,  gifts  that  are  legiti¬ 
mate  thank  offerings;  also  the  tender  pleading 
of  God  for  his  people  to  return,  imploring  them 
to  do  what  they  ought,  and  promising  them  bless¬ 
ing  to  their  soil  and  their  crops  and  their  vine¬ 
yards,  even  halting  the  locusts  in  their  destroying 
march ;  causing  their  country  to  be  one  of  happi¬ 
ness  and  honored  of  the  nations,  and  with  the 
supreme  blessing  that  in  the  last  great  assize  they 
shall  stand  before  God  as  jewels,  precious  in  his 
sight.  And  as  it  is  a  mighty  challenge,  so  few 
texts  could  be  a  more  persuasive  and  winsome 


When  a  Dead  Church  Listened 


57 


plea  for  turning  to  God.  Moreover,  to  make  it 
stronger,  if  possible,  the  Almighty  calls  upon 
them  to  stretch  their  faith  as  an  athlete  does  his 
muscles,  and,  putting  forth  a  holy  boldness,  to 
cast  themselves  upon  his  omnipotence  and  upon 
the  illimitable  riches  of  his  grace;  and  see — if 
they  have  the  nobility  to  love  and  the  courage 
to  prove  him — and  see  if  he  will  not  open  the 
windows  of  heaven  and  pour  them  out  such  a 
blessing  that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to 
receive  it. 

As  this  text  was  unfolded  to  the  people,  their 
minds  under  the  Spirit’s  guidance  began  to  grasp 
the  heinousness  of  their  sinfulness  in  God’s  sight 
— the  sins  of  lukewarmness,  of  indifference  to 
Christ,  and  to  the  propagating  of  his  Gospel ;  and 
that  sinfulness  became  very  real  to  them  in  its 
actual  hatefulness.  Men  present  who  were 
evangelists  to  other  sections  of  the  field  confessed 
with  tears  that  they  were  indifferent  to  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  at  home.  As  one  put  it, 
4  4  The  seller  of  salt  has  no  salt  for  his  own  vil¬ 
lage,”  a  Chinese  equivalent  of  our  well-known 
proverb  about  the  shoemaker’s  barefooted  chil¬ 
dren.  Others,  confessing,  said  that  they  had  re¬ 
peatedly  thought  of  going  to  friends  and  neigh¬ 
bors  in  nearby  villages,  two,  three,  five  and  six  li 
away,  but  ultimately  had  not  gone  because  they 
were  “too  cold  in  the  Doctrine.”  It  became  plain 


58 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


to  them  as  the  meetings  progressed  that  the 
source  of  all  their  troubles  was  in  the  little  word 
disobey ,  and  the  explanation  of  that  word  was 
the  lack  of  love.  “If  ye  love  me,  ye  will  do  what¬ 
soever  I  command  you.” 

The  early  morning  prayer  meeting,  under  the 
conditions  of  heathen  discomfort  and  cold,  was 
the  most  difficult  to  attend.  Nevertheless,  they 
turned  out  well  and  it  was  the  most  helpful  of  all 
the  services.  Even  the  women,  who  especially 
hate  the  dark,  and  who  need  to  use  an  uncon¬ 
scionably  long  time  to  prepare  the  morning  meal, 
were  there  in  goodly  numbers.  And  perhaps  the 
extra  effort  put  into  it  for  the  Lord’s  sake  was 
the  reason  for  the  extra  blessing  that  came  out 
of  it  for  them.  At  any  rate,  on  the  last  morning 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  present  in  special  power. 
At  that  session  as  our  prayer  directing  passage 
we  were  considering  the  story  of  Elijah  and  the 
widow  of  Zarephath. 

Many  of  the  Chinese  talk  easily  and  are  natural 
story  tellers.  Maybe  this  gift  has  been  unusually 
developed  among  Orientals  because  of  the  cen¬ 
turies  of  practice  necessitated  out  of  the  limita¬ 
tions  of  their  history — lack  of  libraries  and  news¬ 
papers  accessible  to  or  usable  by  the  masses. 
Certain  it  is  that  hordes  of  blind  men,  wandering 
from  place  to  place,  make  their  living  off  the 
people  because  they  are  not  only  fortune  tellers, 


When  a  Dead  Church  Listened 


59 


but  also  good  story  tellers.  And  part  of  the  craze 
of  the  villagers  for  that  powerful  instrument  of 
Satan,  the  peripatetic  theater  (that  pitches  its 
rostrum  periodically  in  their  midst)  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  actors  are  consummate  raconteurs 
and  all  the  world  likes  a  racy  narrative  well  told. 
The  instinct  of  Europe  during  the  middle  ages 
for  its  troubadours  and  ballad  singers  has  its 
counterpart  today  in  China.  Everywhere  a  good 
story  teller  is  welcomed.  Whether  crowding 
about  him  on  the  village  street,  or  listening  to 
him  in  an  inn,  or  seated  around  him  on  the  home 
hang  at  a  friendly  meal,  he  is  sure  of  an  audience. 
Everything  that  concerns  an  Asiatic,  of  in¬ 
tellectual  or  spiritual  interest,  has  had  to  be  thus 
orally  handed  down.  Strange  indeed  if  skill  in 
description  had  not  been  thus  developed. 

No  more  interesting  specimen  of  a  Chinese 
talker  have  I  ever  heard  than  an  old  man  who 
arose  toward  the  close  of  the  last  morning  prayer 
meeting.  He  is  one  of  the  earliest  converts  in  the 
fifty  years  of  Gospel  propagation  through  this 
section — himself  for  years  an  evangelist,  preach¬ 
ing  in  many  sections  of  Shantung  Province,  hav¬ 
ing  endured  hardship  and  persecution  for  the 
Name,  an  elder  and  the  father  of  an  elder,  and 
one  of  the  charter  members  of  this  church  in  his 
home  village.  All  his  mannerisms  pique  interest 
to  the  last  degree.  His  comical  grimaces  and 


60 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


grotesque  touches  to  situations  described  by  him 
have  repeatedly  given  us  a  hearty  laugh. 

With  rare  skill  he  told  us  the  story  of  that 
heathen  woman  and  the  prophet.  To  begin  with, 
he  had  a  fine  background  of  understanding  for 
his  tale  and  an  atmosphere  of  sympathy  that  we 
have  not.  His  auditors  all  knew  city  walls  and 
gates  as  we  never  can.  In  their  mind’s  eye  they 
could  picture  perfectly  that  woman  on  the  verge 
of  starvation  going  out  through  one  of  those  mas¬ 
sive  portals  that  pierce  the  great  gray  wall,  to 
hunt  for  the  materials  of  a  fire.  On  the  day  he 
was  speaking  all  knew  that  multitudes  in  China 
were  doing  that  very  thing.  To  the  doors  of 
their  houses  and  heralded  by  yapping,  snarling 
dogs,  there  had  come  during  the  last  few  days 
people  in  the  final  stages  of  weakness  to  whom 
the  parings  of  a  turnip  or  sweet  potato  leaves 
were  a  godsend.  All  about  that  region  they  could 
see  not  only  the  professional  beggar,  but  the 
people  overwhelmed  by  the  disastrous  conse¬ 
quences  of  floods,  unfortunates  fleeing  from  the 
famine,  whose  belongings  were  on  their  backs  or 
upon  a  barrow,  lugubrious  trampers  of  the  road, 
than  whom  few  more  doleful  are  anywhere  to  be 
seen.  They  could  also  see  people  who  belonged 
to  their  own  village,  raking  up  every  spear  of 
grass  along  the  pathway  and  on  the  grave  mound, 
shaking  trees  for  a  left-over  dried-up  leaf, 


When  a  Dead  Church  Listened 


61 


digging  the  frozen  soil  of  the  fields  for  a  stray 
bean  root — to  make  a  little  cake  and  die! 

As  one  who  knew  his  business,  his  speaker’s 
imagination  trained  by  experience,  and  one  who 
had  held  heathen  crowds  breathless,  he  built  up 
the  narrative,  elaborating  details  as  he  needed  to 
vivify  it  all.  His  description  was  a  consummate 
piece  of  art. 

Finally  he  flung  out  the  question  sudden  and 
sharp.  ‘  ‘  And  what  do  you  think  would  have  hap¬ 
pened  when  Elijah  said:  ‘Make  me  a  little  cake 
first /  if  that  heathen  woman  had  refused  the  com¬ 
mand  of  God  and  had  spurned  the  voice  of  his 
messenger?”  There  was  a  deep  silence  as  he 
dramatically  waited  for  them  silently  to  answer 
his  query.  Then  slowly  and  with  emphasis :  ‘  ‘  The 
prophet  would  have  said:  ‘Eat  your  little  cake — 
and  die !  ’  And  that  is  just  what  God  is*  about  to 
say  to  us!”  He  sat  down.  The  effect  was  elec¬ 
trical.  The  people  left  the  building  saying:  “We 
have  come  to  the  parting  of  the  ways — God  has 
not  given  us  the  gift  of  his  Son  merely  to  mock 
us  with  the  appearance  of  comfort,  just  as  he  did 
not  give  the  obedient  widow  a  son  merely  to  take 
the  breath  out  of  his  body  and  work  her  sorrow. 
If  we  want  his  blessing  here  and  now,  we  must 
decide  today  to  trust  his  power,  just  as  that 
widow  did.” 

At  the  forenoon  session  every  member  was  face 


62 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


to  face  with  the  proposition,  will  yon  tithe  for 
God  or  will  you  continue  to  rob  him  of  that  which 
is  his  own,  causing  his  hand  to  continue  to  rest 
heavy  upon  you?  Then  something  happened  as 
a  surprise,  which  is  always  the  case  where  God’s 
Spirit  is  working,  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  his 
believing  ones.  Several  years  earlier  I  had 
spoken  on  the  subject  of  tithing  at  our  Girls’  High 
School ;  and,  in  not  overmuch  faith,  had  supposed 
that  probably  little  fruitage  had  come  therefrom. 
But  in  this  meeting  several  of  the  daughters  of 
the  Christians  of  this'  village,  school  teachers, 
graduates  of  that  high  school,  were  home  for  a 
vacation,  and  one  after  another,  each  arose  and 
pledged  one-tenth  of  her  salary  to  the  Lord’s 
work. 

And  this  decision  of  blessing  became  conta¬ 
gious.  Elders,  deacons,  leaders,  even  old,  unedu¬ 
cated  women,  all  had  a  part  in  the  blessed  frui¬ 
tion.  At  once  the  people  began  to  be  care-light¬ 
ened  and  resolute  in  faith  to  face  with  confidence 
the  problems  of  the  church.  All  wanted  to  forget 
the  little  subscriptions  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  make,  as  they  were  amazed  to  see  what  they 
could  do,  and  the  sum  kept  rolling  up  from  the 
fifty  tiao  of  the  previous  year  to  five  times  that 
much. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Chinese  acre 
in  this  section  is  about  one-sixth  of  an  American 


When  a  Dead  Church  Listened 


63 


acre,  and  that  it  takes  two  acres  to  feed  one 
mouth  for  a  year.  Many  a  family  of  five  to  twelve 
members  did  not  have  ten  Chinese  acres,  which 
means  a  chronic  condition  of  ‘  ‘  difficulty  in  getting 
over  the  days.”*  Yet  all  now  felt,  as  they  said, 
that  “nine-tenths  with  the  Holy  Spirits  blessing 
and  guidance  is  more  than  ten-tenths  with  the 
curse  of  God!”  Even  so,  it  was  no  slight  thing 
for  many  of  the  families  who  possessed  only  ten 
acres  to  go  on  to  this  basis.  At  the  same  time, 
following  out  this  law,  it  was  a  surprising  test  to 
compare  what  they  could  do  with  what  they  had 
done.  How  many  congregations  in  America 
would  be  willing  to  submit  to  the  test  of  that 
forenoon,  to  see  their  names  written  out  and 
posted  on  the  church  walls,  with  the  amount  of 
their  income  for  all  to  inspect;  and  also  the 
amount  they  are  actually  giving  to  the  Lord’s 
work,  with  the  amount  they  ought  to  give  on  the 
tithing  basis  in  contrast  with  it;  also  the  names 
of  those  who  gave  nothing?  It  would  make  a 
sensation  in  some  centers ! 

When  the  subscribing  was  completed  some  one 
proposed  that  the  congregation  rise  and  sing 
‘ 6  Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow.  ’ 9  Now 
they  looked  at  the  church  building,  fallen  into 
decay,  with  new  eyes.  All  could  see  the  light 
through  the  roof  in  several  places.  They  could 
see  that  the  crossbeams  supporting  it  sagged 


64 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


where  chunks  of  sunburned  mud  without  mortar 
had  fallen  away.  They  could  see  the  walls  bulg¬ 
ing  and  wobbling  in  dangerous  fashion.  They 
knew  that  there  must  be  repairs  before  the  sum¬ 
mer  rains  or  there  would  be  no  building  later  in 
which  to  worship.  But  no  longer  did  they  look 
on  these  things  in  shame  and  confusion  of  face; 
for,  though  their  money  was  not  nearly  enough 
to  put  the  church  building  in  shape,  yet  they  now 
had  the  spirit  to  attack  the  problem.  They 
opened  two  new  schools  in  nearby  villages.  The 
church  tithe  made  this  possible,  though  in  one 
village  there  were  only  two  Christians  and  in 
another  but  one.  Their  share  of  a  school  inspec¬ 
tor  and  evangelist ’s  salary,  which  they  had  earlier 
felt  it  impossible  to  provide,  was  now  easily  ar¬ 
ranged,  and  in  addition  they  took  on  their  own 
Bible-woman. 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting  the  Christians 
looked  at  each  other  in  amazement.  Families  that 
had  not  spoken  were  inviting  each  other  to  the 
season’s  feasts.  Many  had  volunteered  to  go  out 
into  the  surrounding  villages  and  preach.  The 
spirit  of  hopefulness  and  the  gentle  warmth  of 
mutual  love  was  diffused;  everybody’s  face  was 
beaming.  They  remarked:  “How  foolish  to  have 
kept  ourselves  from  this  blessing  until  now!” 

When  we  left  they  in  joy  escorted  us  out  of 
the  village,  and  after  a  final  prayer  upon  the  road 


When  a  Dead  Church  Listened 


65 


out  in  the  fields,  plus  many  a  low  bow  and  God¬ 
speed,  we  parted,  all  feeling:  ‘ 4 Surely  it  is  good 
to  have  been  here,  good  to  have  gone  to  Him  in 
sincerity,  good  to  have  asked  Him  in  love  for 
strength  and  in  faith  for  courage  to  begin  to  obey 
his  holy  will!” 


CHAPTER  Vn 


THE  MOUNTAIN  CHURCH  AND 
ITS  MURDER  CASE 

Is  the  Holy  Spirit  dead?  Yes!  So  thought 
many  members  of  “the  Mountain  Church”  of 
one  of  the  northern  provinces  of  China.  They  as¬ 
sumed  that  He  was  not  to  be  reckoned  with,  and 
so  proceeded  in  a  deliberate  conspiracy  to  cover 
up  the  murder  of  one  of  their  members.  And 
they  kept  the  ghastly  affair  “under  the  lid”  for 
twelve  months. 

This  church,  so  snared  of  the  devil,  scarcely 
realized  that  they  were  in  his  net — they  had  been 
“landed”  so  gradually.  But  it  was  painfully 
manifest'  to  others,  heathen  as  well  as  Christian, 
that,  though  possessing  the  form  and  motions  of 
a  church,  they  were  without  its  power  and 
Paraclete. 

I  had  spent  the  fall  and  early  winter  going 
among  all  the  churches  of  our  field  in  five  counties, 
telling  of  the  inspiring  things  I  had  seen  among 
the  churches  in  Korea,  where  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
teaching  an  amazed  world  what  soul  strength  he 
can  put  into  the  weak  and  despised  of  this  world, 


66 


The  Mountain  Church  Mukder  Case  67 


if  they  seek  God  with  the  whole  heart.  As  a  re¬ 
sult,  every  church  and  section  had  promised  to 
send  its  leaders  to  a  Christmas  week  conference 
that  we  had  arranged  to  ‘  ‘  think  on  these  things.  ’  ’ 
And  now  they  had  all ‘ 6 made  good” — an  unprece¬ 
dented  experience  for  us.  They  were  all  present, 
even  from  the  farthest  corner  of  the  field — pas¬ 
tors,  elders,  deacons,  evangelists,  Bible  women, 
school  teachers — all  leaders,  eager  for  and  ex¬ 
pectant  of  a  blessing,  though  ignorant  of  what  it 
was  to  cost  us. 

Among  the  company  were  the  pastor  and  elders 
of  the  “Mountain  Church,”  genial  and  smiling, 
but  not  overmuch  happy  inside.  Conscious  as 
they  were  of  their  guilt,  they  were  to  learn  the 
impossibility  of  dodging  the  terrible  responsi¬ 
bility  that  was  theirs.  Outsiders  who  knew  the. 
church  were  sure  it  was  fast  festering  to  dissolu¬ 
tion.  Even  heathen  whom  the  missionary  met  on 
the  road  would  make  an  occasion  to  volunteer 
the  information:  “That  church  has  a  rotten 
smell!”  The  deepest  pathos  of  this  situation  was 
that  this  church,  isolated  and  alone,  had,  like  a 
certain  first  century  one,  been  measuring  itself 
by  itself.  Thereby  it  had  lost  soul  perspective, 
and  with  it  spiritual  life. 

Our  leader,  humanly  speaking,  was  the  Bev. 
Jonathan  Goforth,  one  of  God’s  noblemen,  who 
had  received  a  great  blessing  studying  the  church 


68 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


in  Korea,  and  who  had  as  one  of  the  results  car¬ 
ried  that  blessing  to  the  church  in  Manchuria. 
By  the  grace  of  God  on  the  first  day  of  our  con¬ 
ference,  under  the  awful,  relentless  searching  of 
the  Spirit,  directing  Brother  Goforth’s  words, 
these  “Mountain  Church”  men  got  a  peep  at 
themselves.  And  they  shuddered  and  drew  back 
in  horror  from  the  sight.  They  surprised  every¬ 
body  by  breaking  down,  for  they  had  come  steeled 
against  such  a  thing.  Despite  their'  pride,  they 
wept  loud  and  long ;  but  they  did  not  confess  their 
sin.  So  their  hearts  were  not  comforted.  Indeed, 
they  were  most  miserably  unhappy. 

That  night,  after  the  evening  session,  they 
asked  me  to  meet  with  them.  And  we  prayed 
together  till  late  into  the  night.  As  one  result, 
an  awful  burden  was  laid  on  their  consciences. 
Still,  though  they  had  come  to  the  point  where 
they  wanted  the  “blood  spot”  out,  they  were  not 
ready  to  “out  with  everything”  that  was  dyeing 
it  red.  At  that  stage  they  had  not  the  spiritual 
strength.  Each  day  of  our  sessions  their  lips 
opened  but  to  weep,  though  opportunities  for 
praise  and  intercession  were  ample,  as  we  held 
four  sessions  daily,  during  which  witness  could 
be  made.  Their  position,  under  the  prickings  of 
the  Spirit,  was  fast  becoming  intolerable. 

For  a  year  rumor  had  brought  me  garbled  and 
lying  reports  of  the  case;  but  to  get  anything 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  69 


straight  out  of  them  was  like  beating  the  air. 
Now,  I  was  determined,  in  humility  and  rever¬ 
ence,  to  put  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  test — Him  who 
was  promised  by  onr  Christ  to  make  plain  to  us 
the  will  of  our  Christ.  Painfully  conscious  of 
our  prayer  inefficiency,  we  began  each  evening, 
after  our  regular  meeting,  to  call  into  our  prayer 
circle  Miss  Vaughan  and  a  godly  elder  of  great 
faith.  And  at  each  of  these  sessions  the  con¬ 
sciences  of  the  mountain  elders  blistered  hotter, 
and  probed  their  sore  deeper,  until  one  night  the 
whole  ghastly  affair  came  out.  A  man  belonging 
to  the  church  had  gone  to  Manchuria  to  work. 
In  his  absence  his  heathen  wife,  abetted  by  her 
heathen  son,  had  proved  faithless.  On  his  return 
he  had  prayed  and  exhorted  them  to  repent. 
Wholly  committed  to  the  devil  and  smarting  in¬ 
wardly  under  the  man’s  rebuke  and  exhortation, 
they  had,  in  simulated  repentance  and  smiling 
hate,  poisoned  his  food.  And  one  night  the  son, 
with  the  aid  of  a  man  of  evil  life,  his  mother’s 
paramour,  dragged  out  the  corpse  and  hid  it, 
naked,  like  a  dead  dog,  in  a  hole  in  the  ground. 

For  three  awful  months  they  faced  out  a  sleek 
story.  But  gradually  horror  possessed  them. 
They  later  described  their  condition  as  that  of 
a  man  shoved  slowly  from  behind  by  an  irresist¬ 
ible  hand  toward  a  precipice.  And  one  dark 
night,  when  their  thoughts  became  unbearable,  the 


70 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


wretched  son  and  his  fellow  criminal,  the  para¬ 
mour,  stole  up  the  steep  and  lonely  valley  to  the 
Christian  village  that  sits  like  an  eagle’s  eyrie. 
In  the  blackness,  their  hearts  still  blacker,  they 
roused  a  church  member,  Christian  in  name,  close 
kin  of  the  son’s  accomplice,  and  begged  him  to 
save  them.  In  agony  they  knocked  their  heads 
on  the  ground  to  him.  When  a  Chinaman  at  mid¬ 
night,  in  the  January  snow,  climbs  a  mountain 
to  ha  tou  to  you,  you  must  do  something — kill 
yourself  or  him,  or  help.  The  kinsman  decided 
to  help. 

By  ‘ 4 save”  the  two  wretched  men  meant  “help 
us  to  cover  up  the  crime.”  And  it  was  then  and 
there  planned  out  with  devilish  cunning  how  the 
entire  church,  which  is  largely  of  one  clan,  was 
to  be  enmeshed  in  this  net — “used”  to  cover  up 
the  murder,  to  “save  the  face”  of  the  man- 
slayers. 

The  first  step  in  the  snaring  of  the  church  was 
for  the  “Christian”  relative  to  give  a  big  wine 
feast,  with  money  furnished  by  the  man-slayers, 
to  the  entire  church.  It  was  carefully  arranged 
that  the  pastor  and  elders  should  be  there,  and 
even  the  small  children  of  the  Christians,  so  that, 
by  one  stroke,  not  only  were  all  involved,  but  all 
became  real  partakers  of  the  murder  guilt,  and 
all  were  sworn  to  a  conspiracy  of  active  silence. 
In  merriment  somewhat  forced,  they  sat  down  and 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  71 


i 


ate  the  ghastly  blood  feast.  And  the  experiment 
was  so  unexpectedly  successful  that,  to  clinch  it, 
the  murderers  shortly  after  invited  the  church 
of  the  mountain  village  down  to  their  yard  in  a 
nearby  village  for  another  feast.  Even  the  old 
women  hobbled  on  their  tiny,  broken  feet  down 
the  steep  and  stony  trail  to  attend.  And  once 
more  the  little  children,  even  girls,  of  the  clan 
were  present.  Nobody  succeeds  like  the  devil. 
He  was  toastmaster,  and  guided  the  revelry. 

But  doubts  as  to  the  righteousness  of  it  all,  not 
to  speak  of  hard  sense  and  worldly  wisdom,  began 
to  haunt  some  of  the  better  ones.  And  fear  crept 
upon  them,  to  numb  the  pleasurable  recollection 
of  two  blood  feasts.  What  if  they  could  not  keep 
this  wild  beast  of  a  secret  chained?  Some 
dreamed  that  a  slimy  dragon,  leagues,  leagues 
long,  relentlessly,  in  spite  of  all  rocks  hurled  down 
upon  him,  drew  his  prodigious  bulk  up  the  narrow 
valley  and  deliberately  gorged  them  all  in  his 
poisoned  jowl. 

So  a  committee  was  sent  to  the  murderers  to 
disclaim  for  the  church  all  responsibility — if  the 
murder  should  leak  out!  The  go-betweens  chosen 
were,  significantly,  the  relative  to  whom  the  son 
and  his  accomplice  had  appealed,  and  two  of  his 
brothers,  with  a  deacon,  whose  brother  is  a 
minister  occupying  a  prominent  place  in  our  mis¬ 
sion.  The  clan-face  of  the  three  brothers  was 


72 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


involved  in  saving  the  face  of  their  relative.  The 
deacon  on  the  committee  would  uphold  the  dig¬ 
nity  of  the  church  and  give  weight  and  prestige 
to  any  decision  arrived  at  by  the  go-betweens. 

To  the  fears  and  the  weakening  of  the  church, 
the  murderers,  through  the  committee,  returned 
a  laconic  reply,  but  a  significant  one — a  present 
of  two  hundred  tiao,  cash  in  hand.  Money  talks ! 
In  this  case  it  talked  with  terrible  effect.  At  once 
began  the  snarling  and  wrangling  as  to  how  this 
unexpected  wealth  was  to  be  spent.  The  bribe 
was  to  be  speedily  used  of  the  devil  to  rend  the 
church  in  twain;  to  fill  its  members  with  mutual 
distrust,  hate,  envy,  jealousy,  covetousness;  to 
take  away  all  peace  and  power  to  witness ;  to  land 
the  village  in  an  actual  made-to-order  hell,  all 
their  own;  to  make  the  church  a  stench  in  the 
nostrils  of  the  heathen,  and  a  heaviness  and  a  re¬ 
proach  to  many  of  our  Christians  in  other  vil¬ 
lages.  The  guilt-covering  church  was  tasting  the 
reality  of  Isaiah’s  pronouncement:  “The  wicked 
are  like  the  troubled  sea;  for  it  cannot  rest;  and 
its  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt.  There  is  no 
peace  to  the  wicked,  saith  my  God.”  Meanwhile 
the  committee  through  whom  the  bribe  had  been 
received  hung  on  to  it  like  grim  death,  determined 
to  use  it  as  they  would.  And  possession  is  nine 
points  of  the  law. 

Now  of  this  committee  the  three  brothers  were 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  73 


strong-willed,  energetic  men,  the  most  forceful 
characters  in  the  chnrch,  the  sort  chosen  by  Satan, 
and  the  deacon  was  a  pliable  man,  consumed  by 
avarice.  The  pastor  was  a  young  theological 
graduate  in  his  first  charge.  Of  his-  two  elders, 
one  was  old,  illiterate  and  weak,  and  the  other 
ignorant,  young  and  inexperienced.  So  that  the 
session,  though  well-intentioned,  was  no  match 
for  the  four.  Nevertheless  the  session,  increas¬ 
ingly  preyed  upon  by  growing  fears  of  the  evil 
of  it  all,  finally  pressed  the  four  to  return  the 
hush  money,  but  in  vain.  A  hint  that  the  matter 
would  be  reported  to  presbytery  sent  the  deacon, 
as  the  representative  of  the  four,  on  a  nineteen- 
day  journey,  to  lobby  before,  during,  and  after 
the  meetings;  perhaps,  more  correctly,  “to  give 
himself  to  watchful  waiting”;  doing  this  so 
effectively  that  the  matter  never  came  up.  His 
minister  brother  was  there  in  attendance. 

The  deacon  returned,  well  fed  and  triumphant, 
with  forty-seven  tiao  gouged  out  of  the  two  hun¬ 
dred.  The  man  to  whom  the  son  and  paramour 
on  that  fateful  winter  night  appealed  also  sub¬ 
tracted  forty  tiao,  as  his  share  for  having  nego¬ 
tiated  the  two  hundred  into  the  coffers  of  the 
church !  The  balance  the  four  used  in  an  abandon 
of  gambling,  drinking  and  high  living.  The 
church  was  powerless  to  take  action  against  them, 
and  for  a  reason  that  to  American  Christians 


74 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


might  seem  little  less  than  absurd.  But  to  a 
Chinese  church  of  weak  spiritual  life  and  con¬ 
stantly  breathing  the  miasma  of  an  age-long, 
Christless  environment,  it  was  a  very  real  and 
terrible  one. 

The  three  brothers  are  butchers,  a  fearsome 
business  in  China,  partly  due  to  the  vagaries 
grafted  by  Buddhism  upon  the  hodge-podge  of 
Chinese  superstition.  Concerning  these  men,  sev¬ 
eral  old  women  have  at  sundry  times  confi¬ 
dentially  addressed  me.  Each,  first  cautiously 
turning  to  make  sure  that  no  eavesdropper  was 
near,  and  then  removing  a  skinny  hand  from  her 
toothless  jaw,  propounded  this  incomplete 
syllogism:  “ These  men  slay  cows.  Can  not  he 
who  sheds  cow’s  blood  easily  shed  a  man’s!”  Not 
another  word!  But  searchingly  peering  through 
her  half-shut  eyes,  the  ancient  dame,  with  a  sol¬ 
emn  wink,  would  hobble  off.  From  their  view¬ 
point  the  evidence  was  conclusive.  And  indeed 
this  logic  was  not  entirely  unjustified  by  facts, 
for  I  was  to  learn  that  the  brothers  carried  long 
sharp  knives,  and  suggested  that  if  anybody  ob¬ 
jected  to  the  disposition  they  saw  fit  to  make  of 
the  hush  money  they  would  use  these  knives  upon 
them. 

Thus  it  stood  that,  despite  all  the  efforts  of  the 
session,  the  blood-red  spot,  the  “damned”  spot,  of 
the  church’s  complicity  in  guilt  would  not  out. 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  75 


So  it  sent  another  committee  to  “fixup”  the  busi¬ 
ness  properly.  So  intent  upon  saving  its  face 
was  this  Chinese  church! 

The  second  committee  selected  by  the  church 
to  disclaim  responsibility  for  the  murder  found 
it  easy  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon  the  mur¬ 
dered  man’s  family.  No  country  rejoices  in 
parent-killers  and  husband- slayers,  least  of  all 
China,  whose  Confucianism  teaches,  though  with¬ 
out  enabling  power,  children  to  venerate  parents 
and  worship  ancestors,  and  wives  to  be  in  com¬ 
plete  subjection  to  their  husbands,  whose  power 
over  their  women  is  that  of  life  and  death.  The 
neighbors  would  be  anxious  for  a  satisfactory 
settlement  that  might  be  made  not  only  without 
resort  to  the  yamen,  but  even  without  the  cog¬ 
nizance  of  the  magistrate ;  for  they  knew  the  com¬ 
mon  punishment  of  such  a  crime  is  the  beheading 
of  many  members  of  the  family,  the  confiscation 
of  considerable  property,  and  a  merciless  squeez¬ 
ing  of  the  community.  On  the  other  hand,  magis¬ 
trates  often  fight  shy  of  an  official  knowledge  of 
such  horrid  deeds,  feigning  ignorance  or  hushing 
them  up,  because  to  have  serious  crime  and  dis¬ 
order  within  the  district  for  whose  order  and 
peace  they  are  responsible  often  means  removal 
from  office,  permanent  degradation  and  severe 
punishment. 

In  the  face  of  an  inexorable  decision  for  a 


76 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


“ quiet’ *  restitution-making,  the  murderess  was 
helpless  to  resist  the  demands  made  upon  her. 
She  was  forced  to  sell  at  a  sacrifice  her  husband’s 
house  and  lot,  and  with  the  proceeds  buy  and 
erect  a  fine  monument.  By  one  stroke  she  was 
reduced  to  a  penniless,  roofless  beggar.  Then, 
with  grim  callousness,  all  assembled  to  witness 
the  gruesome  sight  of  the  murderess  experiencing 
the  kind  of  exquisite  torture  that  only  the  Chinese, 
after  thousands  of  years  of  practice  in  the  art, 
could  conjure  up.  At  the  command  of  the  session, 
representing  the  church,  the  wretched  wife  ex¬ 
humed  the  naked  corpse,  three  months  hidden  in 
the  ground,  and  with  her  own  hands  put  it  in  a 
decent  grave,  previously  prepared.  Then  the 
mother  and  son  were  marched  through  the  village 
streets,  up  and  down,  to  the  bedlam  accompani¬ 
ment  of  the  clashing  of  cymbals,  the  beating  of 
drums,  the  boom  of  cannon  crackers,  the  shrill  of 
fifes,  the  blare  of  trumpets,  the  kick  and  bang  of 
the  three-barreled  Chinese  burial  musket,  the 
shrieks  of  children  and  the  execrations  of  grown¬ 
ups.  Sewn  on  their  breasts  and  backs,  like  a 
Chinese  “ Scarlet  Letter”  episode,  mother  and 
son  wore  huge  cloth  characters,  which  read,  re¬ 
spectively:  “Why  did  you  murder  your  hus¬ 
band?”  “Why  did  you  murder  your  father?” 
This  procession  wound  up  at  the  grave  of  their 
victim,  where  a  “proper”  Christian  burial  was 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  77 


observed.  Thus  at  least  the  “ honor’ *  of  the 
church  was  satisfied,  though  a  fundamental  law 
of  God  and  of  the  nations  was  still  broken.  And 
the  mountain  village  once  more  settled  down  to 
its  self-made  hell.  The  poetically  euphuistic 
name  of  that  village  is  significantly  “The  peace 
(or  rest  haven)  of  the  Tung  family !” 

This  was  the  status  twelve  months  after  the 
murder,  when  the  session  of  the  mountain  church, 
that  cold,  windy,  Christmas  midnight,  found  them¬ 
selves  in  the  conference  church  building  on  their 
knees,  convicted  of  sin  by  the  Spirit  they  had 
despised,  and  weeping  out  their  hearts  in  an 
agony  of  fear.  At  last  they  said  to  me:  “Shep¬ 
herd  Scott,  will  you  go  back  with  us  and  help  us 
straighten  out  the  affair?” 

“Yes,  if  you  will  do  the  manifest  will  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  at  any  cost.” 

Solemnly,  between  sobs,  they  promised. 

Miss  Vaughan  and  two  true  and  tried  elders, 
mature  men  of  experience  and  spiritual  power 
from  neighboring  churches,  who  had  been  pray¬ 
ing  with  us  over  the  affair,  also  consented  to  go 
with  us,  as  witnesses  and  helpers,  and  prayer 
auxiliaries.  It  was  a  hard  walk.  The  night  of 
the  first  day  upon  the  road  we  were  a  pretty  tired 
lot — one  man  with  a  frozen  foot,  but  we  dared 
not  turn  in  without  another  conference  and  prayer* 
meeting. 


78 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


The  next  morning  we  were  up  before  the  sun. 
And  all  that  day  we  tramped  toward  the  Moun¬ 
tain  Church,  a  sober  company  given  much  to  silent 
prayer  and  heart-searching.  The  nearer  we  ap¬ 
proached  what  would  be  the  crisis  of  their  lives, 
the  more  the  courage  of  the  pastor  and  elders 
oozed  away.  And  as  we  rested  before  the  last 
steep  climb,  their  courage  failed  them  utterly.  So 
we  all  sank  down  on  the  rocks  to  pray  as  we  had 
rarely  prayed.  The  session  fully  believed  that 
the  three  brothers  would  kill  them,  if  they  did 
their  duty ;  and  they  had  vowed  to  God  to  do  their 
duty. 

Imagine  the  realm  of  terror  in  which  the  weak 
but  well-intentioned  brethren  of  that  church  had 
for  months  been  dwelling  as  they  daily  faced  and 
cowered  before  those  three  strong-willed  men, 
hardened  in  sin,  resolute  to  continue  in  evil,  who 
had  sold  themselves  to  the  devil. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  village  schoolhouse  and 
church  no  Christian  met  us,  very  different  from 
the  hearty  greeting  on  the  occasion  of  previous 
visits.  The  mountains  towered  in  calm  and  quiet¬ 
ness  as  of  yore.  But  whereas  in  former  times 
they  had  so  refreshed  our  spirits,  speaking  of 
nearness  to  heaven  and  its  peace,  they  now  spoke 
to  us  in  vain.  A  sickening  atmosphere  of  dread 
hung  over  the  place.  We  were  filled  with  the  in¬ 
definable  sense  of  a  mighty  antagonist,  present 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  79 


though  invisible,  and  instinctively  we  braced  our¬ 
selves  in  prayer  for  the  coming  wrestling  with 
him. 

Even  the  school  children,  who  usually  came  out 
upon  the  way  to  greet  us,  or  at  least  lined  up  near 
the  schoolhouse  door  in  a  double  row,  through 
which  we  passed  as  they  smiled  and  bowed  their 
good  will,  were  absent,  the  school  was  broken  up, 
the  patrons  spiritless  to  pay  the  teacher’s  salary, 
long  pledged  and  overdue.  Everything  dead! 
This  is  indeed  a  choice  spot  in  God’s  out-of-doors, 
where  He  intended  one’s  spirit  to  be  exalted;  but 
it  depressed  us  mightily  this  sombre  afternoon. 

Without  delay  I  sent  the  pastor  and  elders  to 
request  the  presence  of  the  four.  They  returned 
shortly  from  their  homes;  the  members  of  the 
households,  under  instruction,  reported  that  they 
all  “had  gone  upon  a  journey,”  not  expecting  us! 
We  knew  this  was  a  lying  subterfuge,  because  the 
day  before  delegates  from  a  nearby  Christian 
group  in  attendance  upon  the  revival  meetings 
had,  at  our  request,  passed  through  the  place  and 
spent  the  night  there,  so  as  to  report  the  services 
and  inform  them  of  our  coming.  We  could  not 
drag  them  by  violence  to  us;  and  if  they  would 
not  come  to  us,  then  all  this  fag  for  naught,  and 
worse,  for  my  wife  was  at  home  alone,  passing 
through  the  most  serious  crisis  of  motherhood, 
in  possible  peril  of  her  life,  and  so  many  varied 


80 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


and  imperative  duties  were  calling  me !  It  is  only 
in  a  situation  like  this,  in  the  midst  of  a  heathen¬ 
ism,  huge,  crass,  blatant,  that  one  can  begin  to 
sense  the  words  of  Paul,  “Besides  those  things 
that  are  without,  that  which  cometh  upon  me 
daily,  the  care  of  all  the  churches.’ ’ 

I  thought  of  Wellington  on  the  plateau, 
anxiously  scanning  the  horizon  and  muttering 
over  his  watch:  “Oh,  for  Blucher,  or  night!”  In 
this  intense  spiritual  conflict,  as  real  as  any  battle 
earthly  armies  ever  waged,  we  had  no  reserves 
of  our  own  to  call  up,  and  no  friendly  human  re¬ 
inforcements  to  call  upon.  We  must  summon  our¬ 
selves  anew  to  an  extra,  desperate  effort,  and 
pray  those  men,  who  had  bound  themselves  never 
to  meet  us,  into  our  presence. 

Wearily  amid  the  fast-lengthening  shadows, 
and  with  a  depressed,  half-sense  of  defeat  dogging 
us,  cold  and  hungry,  we  began  to  unpack  our 
things  and  get  ready  to  camp  down  for  the  night. 

We  were  interrupted  by  the  unexpected  arrival 
of  a  deputy  from  the  household  of  the  leader  of 
the  four,  bringing  steamed  biscuits,  sweet  pota¬ 
toes,  eggs  and  meat  that  these  butchers  had  killed 
with  their  own  hands !  How  appetizing  the  food 
looked  and  smelled!  But,  “Beware  of  Greeks 
bringing  gifts.”  If  we  touched  the  presents  we 
were  undone,  and  had  lost  our  cause  before  the 
trial  was  begun.  It  was  the  smoothest  of  tricks. 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  81 


Long  before  the  days  of  Abraham  the  Oriental 
probably  understood  the  import  of  such  pro¬ 
cedure;  today  they  all  know  it  and  use  it,  from 
the  Arab  in  his  tent  to  the  Chinese  mandarin  in 
his  yamen.  We  had  not  come  to  become  their 
companions  in  guilt.  So  I  ordered  the  good  things 
all  taken  back,  with  word  that  we  could  accept  no 
gifts  till  justice  had  first  been  done  and  righteous¬ 
ness  first  established. 

I  had  to  leave  the  next  morning.  The  affair 
must  somehow  that  night  get  into  the  way  of  a 
settlement.  Taking  only  a  bite  of  food,  our  party 
gave  ourselves  once  more  to  prayer.  At  8.30  p.  m. 
the  leader  of  the  four,  suddenly  and  unannounced, 
arrived.  Brazen,  sneering,  and  without  greeting, 
he  came  in  and  seated  himself  before  us.  Wast¬ 
ing  no  time  in  ceremony  and  chiding,  I  merely 
said:  “Tell  your  story  in  the  presence  of  these 
witnesses.”  He  began  in  a  loud,  high-keyed  tone 
of  voice,  evidently  not  sure  of  his  ground,  but 
with  a  bullying  swagger,  and  abusive  from  the 
outset.  He  nervously  “pulled”  his  pipe  for  in¬ 
spiration,  and  vigorously  waved  it  around  in  big 
circles  to  emphasize  the  points  he  scored. 

Steadily  I  watched  him.  His  eyes  shifted  rest¬ 
lessly  from  one  face  to  another — eyes  nearly 
folded  in  by  wrinkles  of  sin,  eyes  that  disliked 
daylight,  small,  beady,  glittering,  wicked  in  un¬ 
repentance.  Only  twice  before  did  I  remember  to 


82 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


have  looked  at  close  range  straight  into  the  eyes 
of  such  an  evil  countenance.  Once,  the  sardonic 
face  of  a  saloonkeeper  in  the  lumber  woods  of 
Northern  Michigan,  leering  back  at  my  rebuke, 
while  around  him  on  the  floor  were  human  wrecks 
of  his  devilish  work,  all  bleeding  copiously  from 
the  broken  whiskey  bottles  upon  which  they  had 
fallen  toward  the  end  of  their  drunken  orgy.  And 
again,  one  dark  night  on  South  Street  Bridge,  in 
Philadelphia,  when  the  electric  light  lit  up  the 
desperate,  angry  faces  of  young  city  toughs, 
carrying  railroad  coupling  pins,  and  pledged  to 
kill  some  of  us  who  had  that  evening  forcibly  put 
them  out  of  the  University  Settlement  House  for 
terrorizing  the  youngsters. 

This  fellow  was  a  prince  of  bullies  and  acted 
his  part  with  magnificent  nerve.  Before  he  had 
finished,  a  second  member  of  the  four,  arriving 
quite  as  unexpectedly,  came  in,  and  began  his 
testimony.  His  speech  was  one  of  innuendoes, 
belittling  the  pastor  and  railing  at  the  Christians, 
who  had  no  “nerve,”  who  had  “caved  in”  and 
given  the  affair  away,  and  so  on.  Frequently, 
with  a  contemptuous  flourish  of  his  pipe,  and 
looking  fiercely  at  the  pastor,  he  referred  to  him 
as  “that  man,”  in  the  manner  of  its  delivery  an 
affront  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  a  Chinese 
church  member  being  guilty. 

As  he  finished,  a  third  member  of  the  four 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  83 


literally  slunk  in.  He  was  the  weak-willed  brother 
who  had  been  inveigled  into  the  affair,  a  deacon 
and  brother  of  a  minister.  He  doubled  himself 
up  on  his  knees,  like  a  closed  jack-knife,  stared 
steadily  at  the  ground,  and  in  a  low,  spiritless 
voice  told  his  tale.  At  its  close  I  merely  asked 
him  if  he  had  experienced  joy  in  this  sort  of  wit¬ 
ness  for  our  Lord.  Weeping  bitterly,  he  burst 
out  with:  “I  have  never  had  a  moment  of  peace 
since  I  got  into  this  business  twelve  months  ago  !” 
But  sorrow  for  sin  he  did  not  express,  merely 
fear  of  punishment  that  might  overtake  him.  He 
was  not  repentant,  only  scared.  His  rugged  old 
grandfather  and  entire  clan  had  many  years  be¬ 
fore,  when  Hr.  Corbett  first  climbed  through  the 
mountains  to  them,  received  the  Gospel  with  joy. 
It  filled  a  great  need  of  their  hungry  mountain 
hearts.  They,  like  the  humble  folk  of  other  parts 
of  China,  had  a  society  “to  feel  after  God,”  if 
haply  they  might  find  him;  the  father  had  for 
years  been  a  zealous  elder.  The  deacon  son  had 
in  twelve  months  wandered  far. 

In  the  meantime  the  fourth  member  of  the  four 
had  entered.  He,  with  the  other  two,  his  brothers, 
looked  daggers  at  their  confrere,  who  had  prac¬ 
tically  backed  down.  He  had  voluntarily  given 
their  case  away,  and  badly,  by  stating  what  was 
earlier  recorded,  namely,  that  when  the  session 
had  threatened  to  divulge  this  affair  to  the  pres- 


84  Answered  Prayer  in  China 

bytery,  the  four  bad  sent  bim  on  a  nineteen-day 
junket  to  presbytery  to  steer  the  affair  out  of 
the  range  of  publicity,  and  bad  spent  forty-seven 
tiao  in  the  process.  The  balance  they  had 
squandered  in  high  dining,  wining  and  gambling. 

The  third  brother,  realizing  only  too  well  that 
the  situation  was  desperate  for  their  case,  began 
a  cunning  argument  to  discredit  the  pastor  and 
lay  all  the  blame  on  him.  He  reached  his  climax 
in  the  amazing  charge :  ‘  ‘  The  pastor  himself  gave 
me  sixty  tiao  as  a  gift  if  I  would  get  the  two  hun¬ 
dred  tiao  hush  money  from  the  murderers.  He 
said  this  balance  was  to  be  used  for  church  ex¬ 
penses,  largely  for  salary.  The  committee  has 
merely  delayed  to  hand  it  over !  ’  * 

In  the  meantime  the  church  had  gradually  filled 
with  a  crowd  of  breathless  hearers.  The  Chris¬ 
tians  had  not  dared  put  in  an  appearance  before 
the  strong,  evil  men  arrived,  because  thereby  they 
would  seem  to  disapprove  of  their  conduct  and 
to  sympathize  with  the  session.  For  the  same 
reason  they  had  not  dared  to  receive  us,  vaguely 
fearing  what  would  be  visited  upon  them  when 
we  left.  I  now  called  upon  the  young  pastor  to 
answer  for  the  session.  He  trembled  as  he  rose. 
How  we  prayed  for  him  in  this  test!  Quietly, 
courteously,  he  began  his  testimony.  He  told  how 
and  when  and  where  he  and  his  fellow  elders  had 
repeatedly  exhorted  these  men,  with  weeping,  to 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  85 


repent  of  their  evil  conduct  and  save  the  church, 
and  of  how  they  had  only  resisted  the  pleas  and 
beaten  the  younger  elder.  It  was  simple  and 
straight,  carrying  the  conviction  that  inheres  in 
truth. 

I  then  asked  the  two  visiting  elders  to  exhort 
the  guilty  men,  which  they  tactfully  and  impres¬ 
sively  did,  not  by  haranguing  the  men  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  specific  points  of  guilt,  but  by  tenderly 
pointing  them  to  the  example  of  Christ,  and  to 
his  compassion  and  power  available  for  us  all 
when  in  the  toils  of  Satan.  To  this  the  three  re¬ 
sponded  by  strutting  up  and  down  the  middle  of 
the  room  vociferating  fiercely:  “No,  we  are  not 
sorry!  We  are  glad  of  what  we  have  done.  We 
have  no  regrets!  Never  happier  in  our  life  than 
tonight !  *  * 

I  then  spoke  the  final  word:  “It  is  fortunate 
for  the  truth  that  so  many  persons  are  here  to 
listen  to  the  testimony  given.  It  is  also  fortunate 
that  you  four  men  each  came  in  at  different  times, 
so  as  not  to  hear  the  testimony  of  each  other. 
You  have  contradicted  the  testimony  of  one 
another.  It  is  worthless;  none  of  it  hangs 
together.  Before  tomorrow  noon  you  four  men 
must  bring  two  hundred  tiao  here,  to  be  handed 
back  at  once  by  the  session  to  the  murderers,  or 
you  will  force  yourselves  to  eat  unexpected  bit¬ 
terness  !” 


86 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


It  was  lightning  out  of  a  clear  sky.  Muttering 
their  anger  and  vows  of  vengeance,  they  departed 
into  the  darkness.  And  the  audience  of  villagers 
gradually  stole  out,  not  to  the  slumber  of  their 
homes,  however,  but  around  the  corner  to  man 
all  the  long,  narrow  windows  of  the  little  room. 
We  could  hear  them  outside,  crowding  and  push¬ 
ing  for  peep  holes,  and  in  the  stillness  of  the  night 
we  heard  perfectly  the  cracking  of  the  paper  as 
they  cautiously  punched  their  fingers  through  the 
paper  panes  to  make  those  peep  holes.  And  by 
the  brilliant  glare  of  a  big  Montgomery  Ward 
&  Co.  “ store  lamp,”  the  pride  of  the  village,  we 
saw  eyes,  black  and  gleaming,  staring  at  us.  It 
was  creepy.  The  session  feared  a  raid.  Again 
we  prayed  for  courage  and  guidance. 

Finally,  wdiispering  together,  the  Chinese 
brethren  even  writing  out  their  thoughts  so  that 
the  eavesdroppers  should  get  no  inkling  of  what 
we  were  doing,  the  session,  there,  in  the  early 
morning  hours,  voted  to  excommunicate  the  four, 
the  step  they  had  for  twelve  months  discussed  and 
feared  to  take.  But  we  agreed  not  to  divulge  this 
fact  till  the  four  had  surrendered  the  two  hun¬ 
dred  tiao,  lest  they  should  later  have  occasion  to 
rail  and  say  that  out  of  spite,  because  the  session 
could  not  force  them  to  surrender  the  money,  they 
had  taken  this  drastic  measure.  It  required  faith 
to  believe  that,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  87 


of  that  church,  the  money  would  be  surrendered 
the  next  day.  After  another  season  of  prayer 
we  settled  down  to  a  cold  and  sleepless  night.  It 
was  the  third  of  January;  we  were  high  up  in 
the  air ;  and  the  winter  wind  found  us  out  through 
the  big  cracks  in  the  loose-fitting  Chinese  doors 
and  through  the  broken  paper  window  panes. 

Early  the  next  morning,  despite  pleas  to  the 
contrary,  I  began  grimly  to  pack  up,  preparatory 
to  leaving;  partly  because  it  was  necessary  in 
order  to  accomplish  the  trip  of  the  day,  and 
partly  because  that  was  one  way  to  help  force 
matters  to  an  issue.  Even  at  that  hour  the  yard 
was  full  of  curious  visitors,  who  would  keep  the 
four  informed.  But,  before  I  had  finished  dress¬ 
ing,  the  session  in  great  anxiety  visited  me  and 
implored  me  not  to  leave.  Weeping,  they  said: 
“We  are  children;  we  can  not  manage  the  affair 
to  the  end !  ’  ’  Again  our  little  band  gave  itself  to 
prayer.  Such  a  realizing  sense  of  our  weakness 
and  of  the  Holy  Spirit’s  sufficiency  as  was  then 
and  there  born  out  of  our  distress  is  a  blessing 
not  often  experienced  and  not  soon  forgotten.  So 
far  as  we  knew  ourselves,  no  praying  of  our  lives 
equaled  in  intensity  our  prayers  of  that  morning. 
We  felt  as  never  before  the  actual  presence  of  the 
devil.  We  felt  that  we  were  really  battling  with 
the  powers  of  darkness.  We  felt  the  literal  pres¬ 
ence  of  spiritual  wicked  ones  in  high  places, 


88 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


powers  of  the  air  in  infernal  strength  and 
malignity.  The  more  we  prayed  that  morning 
the  more  the  Holy  Spirit  revealed  to  the  session 
their  guilt  for  having  led  the  church  so  deep  into 
sin  through  fear  of  men ;  revealed  their  responsi¬ 
bility  to  clear  themselves  at  once.  Their  grief 
was  awful  to  see.  In  spite  of  ourselves  we  all 
found  ourselves  weeping  in  sorrow  for  them,  and 
felt  as  if  we  would  gladly  make  any  sacrifice  if 
thereby  we  could  bring  peace  to  them  and  the 
power  of  God  back  to  that  church. 

Because  of  all  its  implications  the  spiritual  vic¬ 
tory  was  for  the  session,  not  me,  to  summon  their 
people.  Among  other  things  that  act  would  mean 
that  they  were  the  spiritual  shepherds  of  the 
church;  that  they  no  longer  feared  the  rowdy 
four;  that  they  were  now  humble  enough  to  con¬ 
fess  egregious  sin  to  their  people,  and  bold 
enough  to  make  the  opportunity  for  the  church 
members  to  do  the  same. 

One  could  not  but  love  that  young  pastor- 
brother  as  he  bravely  faced  Satan,  and  pity  him 
as  Satan  repeatedly  beat  him  back  that  morning. 
Again  and  again  he  and  the  elders  essayed  to  go 
out  and  invite  the  Christians,  and  to  confess  their 
own  guilt  as  under  shepherds  of  the  Great  Shep¬ 
herd,  and  as  often  they  came  back,  too  weak  to 
meet  the  ordeal,  and  to  be  again  fortified  in 
prayer.  They  realized  that  every  moment  they 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  89 


delayed  shortened  the  time  before  I  must  leave; 
and  yet  they  could  not  face  their  people.  For 
every  foot  of  literal  ground  we  covered  that  fore¬ 
noon  we  could  almost  feel  the  devil  pressing  us 
inch  by  inch. 

Finally,  out  of  our  agony  of  prayer,  a  great 
peace  and  courage  was  born.  The  quivering  lips 
grew  firm,  the  weeping  eyes  dried,  the  drawn 
faces  became  rested  and  restful  to  see,  and  the 
trio  said  quietly:  “Now  we  will  go,  even  though 
they  kill  us.”  And  they  went  forth  for  the  last 
time,  and  victorious.  Never  can  I  forget  the  joy¬ 
ous  confidence  depicted  on  their  countenances.  As 
soon  as  they  uttered  that  sentence  of  trust  (for 
which  the  Lord  had  been  graciously  waiting),  the 
deviFs  spell  was  broken,  his  reign  of  terror 
ended. 

And  at  that  very  moment  the  leader  of  the  four 
entered  and  cried  abruptly:  “Ten  days!  Give 
us  ten  days  to  find  the  money!”  How  did  he 
divine  our  unuttered  thoughts? 

“No,  not  a  day!”  I  replied. 

He  then  opened  his  long  skirt,  gathered  up  into 
a  scoop  and  hanging  heavy  with  copper  cash ,  and 
said:  “Here  is  my  share,  forty  tiao;  I  wash  my 
hands  of  the  bloody  business!” 

“No  you  don’t!  I  receive  nothing  less  than 
two  hundred  tiao ,  and  from  you  four  together!” 

He  departed  in  a  rage  with  his  money. 


90 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


And  now  the  Christians  began  streaming  in, 
qnickly  tilling  the  benches.  A  wondrous  change 
had  been  worked  in  them.  Deep  expectation  and 
responsiveness  sat  on  their  faces,  an  air  quite 
different  from  last  night.  Without  prayer  or  any 
preliminaries,  I  said:  “Time  is  short  and 
precious.  You  know  your  village  is  so  located 
in  this  mountain  pass,  on  the  boundary,  that  both 
German  and  Chinese  law  can  reach  you.  For  this 
crime  both  could  squeeze  the  life  out  of  you. 
What  magistrate  of  any  nation,  much  less  of 
heaven,  could  you  convince  that  you  were  not  par¬ 
ties  to  this  murder,  when  for  a  whole  year  you 
concealed  it  and  received  hush  money  therefor? 
Your  only  salvation  is,  first,  to  return  the  blood 
money  spent  by  one  of  your  fellow  villagers  to 
feast  you  into  the  secret.  Second,  to  return  the 
blood  money  spent  by  the  murderers  to  feast  you 
into  silence.  Third,  to  return  the  blackmail  by 
which  the  murderers  sought  to  seal  you  forever 
into  complicity  with  them.” 

Just  then  two  more  members  of  the  four,  who 
were  shifting  uneasily  on  the  edge  of  the  crowd, 
cried  out,  “We  return  eighty  tiao!” 

“No,  we  won’t  take  eighty  tiao !”  I  answered. 

And  the  four,  cursing,  retired  in  confusion  to 
counsel  anew  together.  Scarcely  noticing  the  in¬ 
terruption,  the  Christians  (whose  eyes  only  now, 
for  the  first  time,  were  opened  to  realize  the  ex- 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  91 


tent  of  the  enormity  to  which,  they  had  been  par¬ 
ties)  cried  ont:  “We  repent!  repent!  When  can 
we  subscriber’ 

“Now,  only  be  sure  to  subscribe  more  than  each 
plate  cost,  so  as  to  wash  your  hands  clean  of 
blood.”  I  think  that  at  that  moment  many  re¬ 
pented  with  a  great  and  bitter  repentance.  Then 
and  there  they  realized  that  truth  is  more  to  be 
desired  and  more  powerful  than  lies,  that  evil, 
immediately  before  their  eyes,  had  signally  un¬ 
dermined  itself,  that  sin  is  a  disgrace  to  any 
people,  but  righteousness  exalteth  a  church. 

The  Christians  arose  in  rapid  succession,  feeble 
old  men  and  women,  heads  of  families  and  their 
wives,  girls  and  boys,  and  eagerly,  and  with  tears, 
pledged  their  money.  Most  pathetic  of  all  was 
when  the  aged  elder,  with  voice  choking,  said: 
“I  was  not  present  at  the  feasts,  but  had  it  not 
been  for  serious  sickness  at  my  home  I  would 
have  been.  I  am  as  guilty  as  the  rest.”  And  then 
he  subscribed,  like  the  pastor  and  his  fellow  elder, 
five  times  his  share.  When  the  tally  showed  that 
enough  money  had  been  subscribed,  I  said:  “Now 
all  scatter  to  your  homes  and  bring  your  pledge 
back  at  once.”  I  must  confess  that  my  confident 
suggestion  as  to  their  ready  money,  “on  tap”  (in 
view  of  their  previously  pleaded  poverty),  rather 
staggered  my  own  faith;  but,  in  an  incredibly 
short  time,  all  returned  with  their  pledges 


92 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


cashed.  To  save  their  faces  the  four  had  tried 
to  subscribe;  but  we  politely  though  firmly  re¬ 
fused  their  offering,  this  being  one  made  by 
church  members  only,  and  they,  though  they  knew 
it  not,  were  excommunicated.  Nonplussed  they 
certainly  were  to  have  their  church  refuse  money, 
and  their  money,  though  “tainted”  to  a  degree 
they  did  not  yet  realize. 

In  the  presence  of  all  the  pledges  were  counted. 
Meanwhile  we  had  prepared  two  receipts,  with 
blank  spaces  for  the  sums,  also  for  names  of  re¬ 
cipients.  One  wad  of  the  dirty  money,  the  two 
hundred  tiao  of  the  four,  was,  together  with  one 
unsigned  receipt,  to  be  put  into  the  pastor’s  Chien 
ta  tze  before  the  eyes  of  everybody.  This  essen¬ 
tial  article  of  a  Chinese  countryman  is  a  humble 
cloth-bag  substitute  for  our  pocket  purse  and  suit¬ 
case  combined,  and  carried  over  the  shoulder. 
The  money  in  it  was  to  be  taken  that  day  by  the 
session  over  the  mountain,  and  handed  by  them, 
for  the  church,  to  the  murderers.  The  other  wad, 
just  subscribed  by  the  church,  I  handed  to  the 
pastor,  and  said:  “In  the  presence  of  all,  offer 

this  to .  (the  leader  of  the  four 

who  gave  the  first  feast).  If  he  refuses  to  accept 
it,  we’ll  pitch  it  outside  the  church  yard.”  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  leader  at  first  refused  the 
money,  and,  of  course,  refused  to  sign  the  receipt. 
Laying  it  on  a  Bible,  I  walked  up  in  front  of  him 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  93 


and  said  sternly:  “Sign  it!”  He  did,  growling 
the  while  like  a  bear.  He  was  that  fourth  mem¬ 
ber  who  had  obstinately  refused  to  bring  back 
his  share  of  the  two  hundred  tiao,  which  share 
he  now  reasseverated  the  pastor  had  given  him 
as  fee  for  the  blood  gift  he  had  been  instrumental 
in  bringing  to  the  church.  The  other  three  were 
now  meekly  squatting  in  front  of  the  pulpit  and 
holding  their  share  of  the  two  hundred  tiao  in 
their  hands.  This  seemed  too  much  for  his  re¬ 
sistance.  Reluctantly,  like  a  man  parting  with 
his  own  life,  he  slowly  pulled  his  share  out  of  his 
ma  hwoa  tze  (a  coarse  short  blue  cloth  jacket), 
balanced  it  on  his  palm  in  the  sight  of  all,  and 
finally  dramatically  dropped  it  on  the  floor — the 
last  stage  of  resistance. 

I  struggled  to  look  indifferent  and  to  keep  my¬ 
self  from  shouting  hallelujah!  as  the  chief  butcher 
and  the  two  visiting  elders,  in  presence  of  the 
assembled  people,  began  to  count  out  the  accursed 
two  hundred  tiao.  At  an  ordinary  debt-raising 
we  would  have  sung  the  doxology;  but  the  time 
was  too  pressing,  the  business  too  stern.  There 
was  nothing  for  which  to  praise  ourselves.  We 
were  rendering  barest  justice.  As  soon  as  this 
money  was  in  the  pastor’s  CJiien  ta  tze ,  I  an¬ 
nounced  to  the  amazed  company  that  the  once  all- 
powerful  four  had  last  night  been  excommuni¬ 
cated. 


94 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


All  realized  that  at  last  the  big  four  had  ‘  4  gone 
bust/’  and  that  the  church  had  now  made  what 
reparation  it  could.  Not  an  eye  was  dry.  Ten¬ 
derly  I  exhorted  the  four.  Fear,  loathing,  and 
hate  which  had  filled  the  hearts  of  many  for  them 
was  now  changed  to  sorrow  for  them.  If  ever 
the  spirit  of  Christ  brooded  over  a  company  it 
was  in  that  place,  and  at  that  moment.  Amid 
much  joy,  mingled  with  heavy  sorrow,  the  bene¬ 
diction  was  pronounced.  In  the  yard  I  had  a  word 
with  each  of  the  four.  A  friendly  hand  on  their 
shoulders  in  turn  and  looking  straight  into  their 
eyes,  I  told  them  as  a  brother  that  what  had  been 
done  was  done  for  their  good,  and  that  I  expected 
daily  to  pray  for  them;  that  as  true  servants  of 
the  Lord  they  would  again  seek  in  repentance  to 
be  numbered  in  church  fellowship  with  His  own. 
The  hard  lines  of  their  faces  softened  and  their 
lips  quivered  as  silently  they  pressed  my  hand. 
These  three  brothers  had  years  before  risked 
their  lives  to  save  our  beloved  Hr.  Hunter  Cor¬ 
bett  from  death  at  the  hands  of  an  infuriated  mob. 

The  entire  village  watched  the  session,  bearing 
the  money  in  their  shoulder  pocketbooks,  slowly 
climb  away  from  them  into  the  mist  toward  the 
village  of  the  murderers.  I  stayed  only  long 
enough  to  see  that  no  unexpected  hitch  delayed 
them.  They  disappeared  over  the  crest  of  the 
divide  and  then  I  was  oft,  several  hours  late,  to 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  95 


be  sure,  but  no  matter.  I  felt  that  the  Lord  would 
help  me  to  catch  that  night  train.  With  gratitude 
to  God  for  this  issue  to  the  affair,  and  with  thanks 
to  Him  for  health  and  strength,  and  with  an  ex¬ 
uberant  sense  that  I  was  “going  to  make  it  any¬ 
how,’  ’  I  tightened  my  belt  in  lieu  of  food, 
strapped  my  deerskin  hunting  coat  on  my 
shoulders,  and  lit  out  down  the  trail.  Others  with 
my  luggage  would  come  later.  Every  minute 
counted.  For  several  hours  I  swung  along  at  a 
hard  pace  till  blisters  developed.  A  swift  prayer 
for  help  was  answered  by  an  elder  (who  was  sup¬ 
posed  on  that  day  to  be  hundreds  of  li  away,  but 
who  had  unexpectedly  returned).  He  speedily 
provided  me  with  a  donkey,  fresh  and  fast. 
Mounting,  I  ambled  on  at  a  stiff  clip  and  made 
the  train  that  night  by  the  closest  margin. 

A  few  days  later  came  a  joint  note  from  the 
session  which  included  the  following : 

First:  Murdered  man’s  family  received  money 
from  our  hands  and  gave  receipt,  which  find  en¬ 
closed. 

Second :  Church  has  made  up  the  deficit  in  sal¬ 
aries  of  pastor  and  of  teachers  in  the  boys’  and 
girls’  schools. 

Third :  Church  has  arranged  for  continuing  its 
schools  next  year. 

Fourth:  New  hope.  Praise  the  Lord! 

As  a  footnote  to  the  foregoing,  it  ought  to  be 


96 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


added  that  this  is  the  only  village  in  which  I  have 
worked  (with  the  exception  of  one  other)  where 
its  entire  population  turned  to  Christ,  destroying 
its  idols  and  temples,  so  that  there  was  no  vestige 
of  heathen  worship  left  in  their  midst. 

Many  years  before  this  episode,  Hunter  Cor¬ 
bett,  D.  D.,  my  senior  evangelistic  colleague  here, 
had  worked  his  way  up  into  these  mountains  and 
had  found  this  village.  Its  headmen,  with  their 
families,  had,  on  Dr.  Corbett’s  presentation  of 
the  Gospel,  eagerly  and  wholeheartedly  accepted 
it,  just  as  Cornelius  and  his  own  had  done. 

No  wonder  the  devil  labored  hard  and  inces¬ 
santly  to  make  this  entire  village  church  fall  often 
and  deep  into  temptation.  No  wonder  it  was  not 
easy  for  the  session  to  rule  spiritually  its  own 
clan  family.  No  wonder  it  was  difficult  to  punish 
its  own  members,  especially  the  big  four,  strong¬ 
est  of  its  village  group.  But  the  Spirit  apparently 
took  a  hand  in  breaking  their  hard  and  willful 
hearts. 

Sin  at  the  first  may  have  its  pleasures ;  but,  at 
the  last,  like  wine,  it  biteth  like  a  serpent  and 
stingeth  like  an  adder. 

The  four,  impenitent  after  their  excommunica¬ 
tion,  soon  ate  unexpected  bitterness.  The  wife 
and  daughter-in-law  of  one,  in  shame  at  the  dis¬ 
grace  that  had  come  upon  the  head  of  their  fam¬ 
ily,  committed  suicide,  leaving  him  and  his  only 


The  Mountain  Church  Murder  Case  97 


son  helpless  with  two  little  children  on  their 
hands.  The  third  son,  nineteen  years  old,  of 
another,  bright  and  promising,  suddenly  devel¬ 
oped  quick  consumption  and  died.  The  older  of 
his  two  remaining  sons  became  foolish,  so  stupid 
that  he  could  not  attend  market  and  do  bargain¬ 
ing,  and  when  a  Chinese  cannot  bargain,  he  is  far 
gone.  Also  his  mule  died,  a  grave  loss  to  any 
mountaineer. 

The  son  of  the  third  immediately  after  the 
excommunication  married  into  a  heathen  family 
and  his  marriage  speedily  developed  into  a  little 
hell,  the  daughter-in-law  setting  both  families  by 
the  ears.  This  son,  the  pride  of  the  father’s 
heart,  going  away  to  school  got  into  a  gambling 
scrape,  became  unfaithful  in  his  studies,  became 
an  associate  of  opium  users,  and  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned  for  smuggling  the  drug,  getting  freed 
months  later  only  by  the  payment  of  a  handsome 
“fine.” 

The  fourth  member  of  the  quartette  repented 
at  once.  He  had  had  no  part  in  the  division  of 
the  spoils  (the  blood  money) ;  he  only  ate  and 
drank  with  the  others  at  the  blood  feast.  And  he 
was  sick  and  tired  of  the  sin  mess.  His  escape 
from  the  woes  of  the  other  three  was  a  sharp, 
dramatic  warning  to  the  entire  church  that  “the 
way  of  the  trangressor  is  hard.” 

Later,  through  the  soul  travail  that  they  ex- 


98 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


perienced,  the  three  repented — God’s  chastise¬ 
ment  of  them  as  sons  was  efficacious,  and  the  big 
four  were  finally  reinstated  into  church  fellow¬ 
ship,  sadder  but  wiser  men,  humble  and  self-dis¬ 
trustful.  They  described  their  pride  and  self- 
sufficiency  as  “high  stilts  which  the  devil  had 
knocked  from  under  us.” 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  MISSIONARY  LADY  WHO 
DID  NOT  DIE 

It  was  a  perfect  autumn  day,  one  for  which 
Shantung  Province  is  famed,  floods  of  sunshine, 
the  air  clear  and  crisp.  We  were  celebrating  the 
Lord’s  Supper,  and  under  very  interesting  cir¬ 
cumstances.  A  young  man,  educated  in  the 
Chinese  classics,  had  heard  us  preach  in  the  mar¬ 
ket,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  had  honored  the  message. 
He  had  been  convicted  of  sin,  converted  and  smit¬ 
ten  with  the  passion  to  witness  for  Christ.  Rela¬ 
tively  well-to-do,  he,  at  his  own  expense,  had 
opened  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  family  yard  a 
small  school  for  boys,  he  himself  being  their 
teacher.  Besides  his  proficiency  in  the  Chinese 
classics,  he  was  also  familiar  enough  with  West¬ 
ern  methods  of  education  to  be  able  to  make  his 
school,  in  the  few  grades  that  he  taught,  conform 
to  the  curriculum  of  our  village  mission  schools, 
and  had  applied  to  have  his  school,  as  a  self-sup¬ 
porting  one,  taken  under  our  jurisdiction,  which 
had  been  done. 

During  the  forenoon  of  this  memorable  day  his 


99 


100 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


pupils,  ten  in  number,  had  been  examined  and  re¬ 
ceived  into  the  church,  and  all  through  his  efforts. 
Now,  on  this  glorious  afternoon,  we  were  in  the 
midst  of  the  Holy  Communion,  celebrated  for 
reasons  best  known  to  the  initiated,  in  the  open 
yard,  high-walled  to  keep  out  interlopers,  loose 
animals,  beggars  and  thieves.  Suddenly,  in  the 
midst  of  the  service,  I  felt  that  something  was 
seriously  wrong  at  home  and  that  I  was  needed 
there  at  once. 

Many  times  I  had  been  away  on  these  country 
trips  for  weeks  at  a  stretch,  always  knowing  (and 
heartened  by  the  fact)  that  I  was  faithfully  being 
borne  up  before  the  throne,  and  I  felt  that  all 
was  well.  But  now,  for  the  first  and  only  time  in 
my  life,  this  premonition  of  danger,  indeed,  of 
harm  already  wrought,  to  my  loved  ones,  struck 
me  with  an  unexpectedness  that  was  uncanny,  and 
with  a  dagger  sharpness.  There  was  still  another 
week  of  this  itinerary  as  planned  to  be  completed, 
preaching  in  the  villages  round  about,  but  now 
the  thought  of  continuing  it  became  torture.  By 
three  o’clock  I  was  so  burdened  that  I  had  de¬ 
cided  to  do  what  I  had  never  done  before,  cut  all 
engagements  ahead  and  hasten  back  home. 

To  conserve  strength  for  a  forced  march  later, 
and  to  facilitate  speed,  I  hired  a  big  strong  mule 
and  started.  But  I  soon  learned,  to  my  sorrow, 
that  the  beast  was  strongly  possessed  of  mulish- 


The  Missionary  Who  Did  Not  Die  101 


ness,  with  the  result  that  he  did  not  take  kindly 
to  strangers;  indeed,  that  he  had  no  intention  of 
being  lorded  over  by  a  foreign  devil.  He  had  a 
way  of  remonstrating  at  the  load  on  his  back  that 
was  as  interesting  as  it  was  literally  striking. 
Every  few  paces  he  would  stop  and  give  a  vicious 
lunge  at  me  with  one  of  his  hind  legs.  The  mani¬ 
fest  purpose  was  by  means  of  these  sharp  hoof 
jabs  to  dig  the  flesh  off  my  calves.  The  ride 
speedily  developed  into  a  game  of  hide  and  seek, 
rather  of  kicks  and  dodges.  As  he  increased  the 
vigor  of  his  attacks  I  retired  my  nether  parts  to 
the  region  of  his  back.  The  situation  required 
“ watchful  waiting,”  and  that  I  “sit  high  and 
tight,”  and  I  tried  to;  that  is,  as  high  and  tight 
as  unstable  equilibrium  permitted.  At  last  the 
game  became  too  interesting  for  me,  the  barrage 
fire  too  intense.  I  was  getting  more  than  my 
money’s  worth.  Watching  for  an  opening  between 
attacks,  I  leaped  over  his  ears,  thankful  to  be  on 
terra  firma,  glad  to  exchange  that  “ornery  crit¬ 
ter”  for  shanks  horses,  and  feeling  privileged  to 
relieve  the  mule  and  his  owner  from  any  further 
obligation  to  me. 

By  five  fifteen  in  the  afternoon  the  November 
sun  was  gone,  and  I  was  swinging  along  over  a 
steadily  darkening  way.  Before  I  reached  one 
of  our  chapels  I  had  made  sixty  li  (twenty  miles). 
There  I  ate  and  slept  a  bit,  and  then  started  off 


102 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


to  push  on  through  the  moonless  night.  It  was  a 
lonely  and  lonesome  tramp,  especially  as  the  road 
was  new  to  me,  and  leading  over  a  rough,  hilly 
region.  The  path,  narrow  and  faint,  could,  ac¬ 
cording  to  our  notions,  hardly  be  called  a  ta  tao 
(big  road),  as  it  meandered,  here  and  there,  wind¬ 
ing  to  places  of  least  resistance  among  low  levels 
and  over  crests.  Yet  it  had,  according  to  Chinese 
standards,  the  infallible  marks  of  a  “big  road”; 
for  it  was  traceable,  from  point  to  point,  by  white 
slabs  of  stone,  three  to  five  feet  high,  looming  like 
ghostly  guides,  along  through  the  blackness. 

These  slabs  were  the  famous  lou  pei,  monu¬ 
ments  planted  always  beside  what  purports  to 
be  an  important  highway  in  order  to  be  seen  of 
men,  monuments  that  the  family  of  a  daughter- 
in-law  have  erected  to  immortalize  her  conjugal 
fidelity,  in  that,  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
she  never  married  again.  Such  monuments 
usually  have  four  Chinese  characters  graven  large 
on  the  roadward  front,  and,  though  I  have  written 
down  and  compared  dozens  of  them,  one  idea 
seems  to  run  through  them  all,  as  voiced  in  this 
stereotyped  eulogy:  “Her  heart  was  pure  as  gold, 
firm  as  granite”  (in  her  determination  not  to 
remarry). 

The  next  morning,  somewhat  the  worse  for 
wear,  foot-blistered  and  empty-stomached,  I 
pulled  into  a  wayside  railroad  station  whose 


The  Missionary  Who  Did  Not  Die  103 


Chinese  master  earned  my  gratitude.  He  brought 
water  for  washing,  poured  hot  tea  and  shared  his 
breakfast  with  me,  and  then  gave  me  the  use  of 
his  bed  of  cornstalks,  waking  me  up  in  time  to 
catch  the  train  for  Tsingtau.  On  arrival,  I  found 
sufficient  reason  for  my  premonition. 

No  child  ran  to  greet  me;  my  wife  was  not 
about  the  house.  Vague  terror  was  in  my  bones. 
A  little  later  I  was  told,  with  a  painful  impres¬ 
siveness  that  made  my  heart  thump  as  if  to  break 
its  walls,  that  Mrs.  Scott  had  been  hastily  re¬ 
moved  to  the  Municipal  Hospital,  and  that  the 
doctors  gave  her  disease  the  ominous  name  of 
“ fleck  typhus”  (spotted  typhus).  Also,  to  my 
consternation,  I  learned  that  one  daughter  was 
in  the  hospital  with  dysentery,  another  was  re¬ 
covering  from  it,  but  so  weak,  emaciated,  and  gen¬ 
erally  changed  that  I  hardly  recognized  the 
chubby,  robust  girl  I  had  left;  a  third,  the  baby 
boy,  was  also  sick,  but  convalescing  from  that 
same  hateful  disease. 

The  servants  informed  me  that  Mrs.  Scott  had 
one  forenoon  gone  to  bed,  remarking  that  she  did 
not  feel  well,  an  act  and  remark  alike  strange  for 
her.  They  did  not  then  tell  me  that  a  high  fever 
had  developed,  rapidly  merging  into  delirium, 
that  they  had  not  known  what  to  do,  and  that  they 
had  informed  no  foreigner  of  her  condition.  All 
that  I  was  to  learn  later.  So  there  she  had  lain, 


104 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


helpless  and  untended,  within  a  few  blocks  of  a 
fine  hospital,  sick  well-nigh  nnto  death,  but  un¬ 
discovered.  To  make  the  irony  complete,  for¬ 
eigners  had  called  several  times  but  had  blandly 
been  told:  “Mrs.  Scott  cannot  see  you  now!”  a 
common  after-tiffin  phrase,  innocuous  in  itself. 
And  so,  by  an  apparently  cruel  conjunction  of 
circumstances,  no  human  friend  who  could  have 
helped  knew  about  her  condition  and  that  of  the 
children,  also  sick  and  neglected  in  other  rooms, 
till  her  dread  disease  had  almost  reached  its 
climax.  Later  the  servants  told  me  that  while 
still  at  the  house  in  the  delirium  of  fever,  Mrs. 
Scott  was  figuring  station  accounts,  in  Chinese, 
even  then  faithfully  trying  to  help  with  the  book¬ 
keeping  in  order  to  give  me  more  time  for  country 
evangelistic  itinerating,  work  that  she  was  not 
free  to  do,  but  in  which  her  heart  was  centered. 

It  afterward  developed  that,  during  my  ab¬ 
sence,  she  had  quite  exhausted  herself  with  the 
day  and  night  care  of  two  children  seriously  ill, 
that  a  careless  servant  had  drawn  bad  water  and 
failed  to  boil  it  properly,  and  that  she  herself  was 
in  the  clutch  of  her  fever  before  she  could  tell  the 
servants  where,  and  in  what  part  of  the  field,  I 
might  be  found.  The  conspiracy  of  events  was 
pathetic,  even  tragic,  to  a  degree. 

All  the  painful  details  in  due  time  I  learned, 
and  as  they  gradually  piled  upon  me,  it  was  with 


The  Missionaky  Who  Did  Not  Die  105 


crushing  weight.  I  mused  bitterly,  “Why  must 
she,  of  all  women,  always  busy  for  the  Master, 
sutler  thus  ?  ’  ’  The  climax  came  when,  on  seeking 
out  the  German  physician  in  charge  of  the  hos¬ 
pital,  he  announced:  “There  is  no  hope!”  The 
pompous,  tactless  way  he  pronounced  it,  as  if  he 
were  gloating  over  me,  made  me  tight  hard  not 
to  hate  him.  Through  my  mind  his  explanations 
passed  as  in  a  dream:  “The  disease  is  of  a  very 
malignant  type,  and  is  not  acting  according  to 
rule !  I  have  been  holding  daily  consultation  with 
some  of  the  specialists  of  the  big  military  hos¬ 
pital!  The  fever  has  passed  beyond  the  power 
of  technical  knowledge  and  human  wisdom  to  con¬ 
trol  !  All  skill  is  unavailing,  because  the  case  was 
caught  too  late!”  I  cared  nothing  for  his  ex¬ 
planations.  I  wanted  life ,  her  life . 

On  that  black  day  there  arrived  at  our  home, 
unsummoned  by  me,  an  older  missionary  friend 
from  the  far  western  part  of  the  province.  It 
meant  much  that  that  man,  as  busy  as  I  knew  he 
was,  should  leave  his  classes  in  our  theological 
seminary  to  come  to  my  aid.  Sympathetically, 
like  a  wise  and  kind-hearted  father,  he  helped. 
Yet  it  was  dreadfully  significant  to  me  and  added 
to  the  poignancy  of  my  pain  that  he  had  come  to 
assist  in  what  were  supposed  to  be  the  last  sad 
rites. 

In  bitterness  of  soul  I  assuredly  was  at  that 


106 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


time  not  prepared  to  give  her  up.  I  had  no  doubt 
as  to  her  immediate  and  full  felicity  (should  God 
see  fit  to  remove  her  from  our  midst ),  but  the 
thought  of  my  little  children  left  motherless  (and 
she  such  a  sunny,  efficient  mother),  I  was  unwill¬ 
ing  to  face.  Unable  to  see  her,  of  course,  I  had 
nevertheless  been  hanging  about  the  hospital  like 
an  uneasy  ghost.  When  at  last  the  doctor  made 
his  cruel,  official  pronunciamento,  I  staggered 
away  from  his  presence  into  the  hospital  garden 
and  there  had  it  out  with  God. 

Now  a  garden  full  of  trees  is  a  good  place  to 
settle  things  with  God.  The  most  important  mat¬ 
ter  ever  settled  on  this  planet  was  once  in  such 
a  place  settled  for  time  and  eternity,  and  settled 
right.  There,  after  a  final,  helpless  wrestle, 
Jacob-like,  I  became  willing  to  “let  go  and  let 
God,  ’  ’  whatever  the  consequences  to  me  and  mine. 
Then,  and  not  till  then,  did  I  begin  to  realize 
something  of  the  tender  love  and  compassion  of 
our  God,  “A  bruised  reed  will  he  not  break,  and 
smoking  flax  will  he  not  quench.’ ’  I  now  knew 
it  for  a  fact.  Not  only  did  affairs  at  once,  in  my 
own  mind,  take  a  turn  for  the  better,  but,  in  the 
midst  of  my  distress,  more  help  from  without  was 
at  hand,  and  it  was  to  be  increasingly  so  from 
that  time  on. 

As  a  merciful  providence  would  have  it,  the 
Chinese  leaders  of  our  country  field,  on  hearing 


The  Missionary  Who  Did  Not  Die  107 


of  the  desperate  situation,  had  hurried  in  to 
Tsingtau  to  comfort  and  console  me.  Indeed,  at 
that  very  hour  of  garden  decision,  some  were 
awaiting  me  at  my  house.  Words  cannot  tell  how 
glad  I  was  to  see  them.  Among  them  was  Pastor 
Li,  whose  parents,  during  his  boyhood,  had  ex¬ 
perienced  the  greatest  hardships,  but  who  had 
early  dedicated  himself  to  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord 
in  a  marvelous  way  had  led  him  on,  out  of  penury, 
into  prosperity  and  usefulness,  giving  him  chil¬ 
dren  to  revere  and  honor  him  and  giving  him  the 
‘ 4  burning  heart  for  Jesus,  and  eloquence  to 
preach  Christ,  so  that  he  is  one  of  the  most 
earnest  and  powerful  of  our  evangelistic  speakers. 
With  him  was  Elder  Ting  Li  Sui,  elegant  country 
gentleman,  for  many  years  professor  of  mathe¬ 
matics  in  a  mission  college,  till  the  Boxer  cata¬ 
clysm  broke  it  up,  the  embodiment  of  dignity  and 
politeness,  head  of  the  now  famous  clan  of  which 
the  student  evangelist,  the  Rev.  Ting  Li  Mei,  is 
an  illustrious  member.  After  1900,  Elder  Ting 
had  sacrificingly  helped  to  establish  in  his  village 
our  Girls  *  High  School,  managing  it,  and,  as  a 
skilled  pedagogue,  teaching  without  salary  in  it. 

And  there  was  Pastor  Chae  with  his  elders,  he 
whose  face  is  the  embodiment  of  kindliness  and 
good  will,  whose  benignant  spirit  radiates  sun¬ 
shine  ;  a  man  not  great  as  a  preacher,  but  a  faith¬ 
ful  and  sympathetic  pastor,  a  true  shepherd, 


108 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


traveling  continuously  among  his  flock,  three 
churches  that  stretch  through  many  villages  in 
three  different  counties,  himself  a  fine  Chinese 
scholar,  and  unusually  skillful  in  writing  the  in¬ 
tricate  and  mysterious-looking  Chinese  ideo¬ 
graphs.  He,  as  a  Confucian  schoolmaster,  on 
hearing  the  Jesus  Doctrine,  embraced  it  gladly 
and  at  once ,  and  ever  since  has  spoken  the  name 
of  Christ  with  love  and  reverence  and  power. 
When,  during  the  flood  time,  I  went  to  help  his 
people  and  saw  that  the  “swelling  of  Jordan’ ’ 
had  taken  away  the  possibility  of  his  poor  country 
Christians  paying  his  paltry  monthly  stipend  of 
twenty  dollars  (Mex),  he  told  me  that  he  had 
just  received  an  offer  from  a  foreign  mission 
society  to  take  the  pastorate  of  one  of  its  com¬ 
pounds  at  twice  that  salary,  yet,  without  hesita¬ 
tion,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  he  refused,  say¬ 
ing:  “I  choose  to  remain  and  eat  bitterness  with 
my  people!” 

And  there  was  Elder  Tu,  slight  of  figure  and 
excellent  business  man  for  the  Lord  who,  per¬ 
haps  more  than  any  other  human,  has  been  influ¬ 
ential  in  leading  us  into  a  wonderful  opening,  in 
one  of  the  walled  cities  of  our  field,  enabling  us 
to  begin  to  reach  its  gentry.  Of  great  faith,  he 
has  prayed  through,  to  a  successful  issue,  for  the 
glory  of  God,  many  a  knotty  problem;  also  of 
great  courage,  he  has,  single  handed  and  without 


The  Missionary  Who  Did  Not  Die  109 


weapons,  stood  before  drunken  mobs  of  heathen, 
in  the  riotousness  and  idolatrous  zeal  of  the 
New  Year  festival  season,  as  they  threatened  the 
lives  of  innocent  and  inoffensive  Christians,  and 
cowed  them. 

And  there  was  Elder  Wan,  a  tall,  big-statured 
man,  straight  as  an  Indian,  of  tine  presence  and 
handsome  face,  few  men  with  eyes  more  kindly, 
or  more  bright  and  piercing.  He  also,  like  most 
of  the  others,  had  roughed  it  with  me,  tramping 
many  li  with  me  to  preach  on  the  market  and 
through  the  villages.  Yes,  and  other  men,  faith¬ 
ful  and  honored,  came  singly  or  in  groups.  And, 
in  every  case,  just  the  right  ones,  in  His  goodness, 
were  sent  to  reassure  me.  Without  exception 
they  spoke  in  these  words  or  to  this  effect: 
4  ‘  Friend,  do  not  fear,  only  believe.  Although  the 
wise  foreign  doctors  have  spoken  their  sorrow¬ 
making  words,  you  need  not  worry.  Rest  your 
heart  in  Him .  We  shall'  pray  her  through!” 

With  the  restfulness  of  that  assurance  made 
by  trusted  ones,  we  now,  as  not  in  those  earlier 
days  of  wild,  agonized  petitioning  before  the 
throne,  laid  hold  of  the  promises.  The  strength 
of  a  new  faith  and  of  added  courage  was  ours, 
waiting  confidently  upon  Him.  With  new  insight 
we  appreciated  “the  comfort  of  the  Scriptures.” 
Truly  they  are  given  “for  discipline  which  is  in 
righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God  may  be*  com- 


110 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


plete,  furnished  completely  unto  every  good 
work,”  including  the  sustaining  in  sorrow.  Now, 
as  we  gathered  around  the  table,  as  we  knelt  be¬ 
fore  the  family  altar,  and  in  private  devotions, 
and  many  a  time  throughout  the  day,  we  found 
our  lips  reverently  repeating,  even  as  our  hearts 
were  fully  claiming,  the  promise  of  the  Psalmist’s 
words :  “God  is  our  strength,  a  very  present  help 
in  time  of  trouble !  ”  A  marvelous  verse ! 

Messengers  had  been  dispatched  by  the  Chinese 
leaders  into  all  parts  of  the  country  field  among 
the  churches  of  our  constituency,  and  the*  Chris¬ 
tians  in  every  section  gave  themselves  to  prayer, 
many  with  fasting.  Needless  to  say,  in  our  home 
there  was  a  ceaseless  outgo  of  prayer  like  the  flow 
of  a  river.  In  it  all  the  household  joined,  from 
the  grown-ups  to  the  Chinese  servants,  and  the 
smallest  daughter,  not  quite  three'  years  of  age, 
and  convalescing.  Never,  on  any  other  occasion, 
in  speaking  with  anybody,  had  she  mixed  her 
English  and  German  and  Chinese,  which  lan¬ 
guages  the  children  then  spoke  fluently,  having 
learned  the  second  from  a  German  governess  and 
the  third  from  the  servants.  Now  daily  this  little 
miss,  who  worshiped  that  sick  mother  and,  to  my 
distress,  had  been  most  insistent  to  be  with  her, 
seemed  to  feel,  out  of  the  depths  of  the  agony  of 
her  childish  heart,  that  she  must  intensify  her 
prayer*  by  speaking  to  God  in  three  languages  at 


The  Missionary  Who  Did  Not  Die  111 


once .  So,  again  and  again  we  heard  her  petition¬ 
ing  thns:  “Wea  ti  tien  fu,  ah!  Ke  lien  wea  pa! 
Bring  meine.  Matter  back  safe  zn  meinem  Hans !” 
(Heavenly  Father,  have  mercy  upon  me!  Bring 
my  mother  back  safe  to  my  house!)  and  her  old¬ 
est  sister  I  had  repeatedly  caught  praying:  “O 
Lord,  spare  her,  if  it  is  Thy  will.  It  will  be  better 
for  her  in  heaven,  I  know,  but  it*  will  be  hard’  on 
us  who  are  left !  ’  ’ 

Now,  however,  the  desperation  was  gone;  in’ its 
place  was  resignation,  willingness  to  be  led,  even 
through  tears.  And  so  it  was  that,  despite  the 
authoritative  pronouncement  of  the  wise  and 
learned  doctors,  despite  all  the  fever  charts  that 
were  traced  and  displayed,  proving  recovery  im¬ 
possible,  the  sick  one  began  to  mend.  In  fact,  she 
made  an  abnormally  rapid  recovery  from  the 
danger  point,  and  a  steady  convalescence  with  no 
setbacks,  despite  untoward  conditions  in  the*  hos¬ 
pital,  including  the  pounding  of  carpenters  who 
were  set  to  repairing  the  stairs  outside  her  door, 
also  the  ravings  of  a  man  with  delirium  tremens 
in  the  next  room.  We  saw  the  queen  of  our  home 
restored  to  us,  as  one  snatched  from  the  jaws  of 
death. 

Do  you  wonder  that  we  love  them,  these  true 
and  tried  Chinese  leaders?  During  these 
troublous  days  it  never  occurred  to  us  that  our 
skins  were  of  a  different  color  or  our  eyes  of  a 


112 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


different  slant;  we  were  all  just  friends  in  Him. 
“He  made  of  one  every  nation  of  men  to  dwell 
on  all  the  face  of  the  earth”;  and  in  Christ  there 
is  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile;  bond  nor  free;  white 
nor  yellow . 

Another  question:  Do  you  wonder  that  we  be¬ 
lieve  God  can  and  does  interpose  in  behalf  of 
his*  trusting  children?  In  retrospect,  as  we  re¬ 
joice  over  this,  one  of  many  prayer  miracles  he 
has  graciously  wrought  for  us,  we  are  reminded 
that  he  is'  plenteous  in  mercy ;  and  that,  while  it 
is  not  God’s  intention  to  cure  everybody  of  every 
complaint  by  prayer,  yet  it  is  in  his  loving  prov¬ 
ince  to  do  so,  much  more  often  than  many  Chris¬ 
tians,  sinning  the  sin*  of  unbelief,  may  think.  4 4  Is 
any  among  you  suffering?  Let  him  pray.  Is  any 
among  you  sick?  Let  him  call  for  the  elders  of 
the  church,  and  let  them  pray  over  him  .  .  . 

in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  and  the  prayer  of  faith 
shall  save  him  that  is  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall 
raise  him  up;  and  if  he  have  committed  sin,  it 
shall  be  forgiven  him  .  .  .  the  supplication 

of  a  righteous  man  availeth  much  in  its  working” 
(James  5:13-15a.). 

So  our  message  to  the  friends  and  comrades  in 
the  goodly  company  of  the  Victorious  Life 
Brotherhood  is  the  triumphant  paean  of  David 
(Psalms  30  and  31) : 


The  Missionaby  Who  Did  Not  Die  113 


‘  ‘  0  Lord,  my  God,  I  cried  unto  thee, 

And  thou  hast  healed  me. 

0  Lord,  thou  hast  brought  up  my  soul  from  the 
grave : 

Thou  hast  kept  me  alive, 

That  I  should  not  go  down  to  the  pit. 

‘  Sing  unto  the  Lord,  0  ye  saints  of  his, 

And  give  thanks  at  the  remembrance  of  his 
holiness. 

For  his  anger  endureth  but  for  a  moment;  in 
his  favor  is  life; 

Weeping  may  endure  for  a  night, 

But  joy  cometh  in  the  morning. 

‘Lord,  by  thy  favor  thou  hast  made 
My  mountain  to  stand  strong. 

0,  how  great  is  thy  goodness, 

Which  thou  hast  laid  up  for  them  that  fear 
thee; 

Which  thou  hast  wrought  for  them  that  trust 
in  thee  before  the  sons  of  men.” 


CHAPTER  IX 
A  CHINESE  GIRL’S  VOW 

Miss  Tsiao  is  the  daughter  of  two  Chinese 
leaders  in  our  field.  Her  father  is  an  elder  and 
an  evangelist;  her  mother,  a  deaconess  to  Bible 
women.  The  kind  of  environment  that  only 
Christian  parents  and  mission  schools  could  give 
in  the  midst  of  heathenism  have  been  hers  for 
many  years.  From  childhood  she  has  displayed 
unusual  intellectual  and  spiritual  power — a  girl 
of  marked  beauty,  whose  modesty  of  demeanor 
and  humility  of  spirit,  whose  gentleness  and  win¬ 
someness  have  favorably  impressed  many  kinds 
of  people.  Her  maturity  of  thought  and  deep 
religious  life  have  long  marked  her  as  sealed  of 
the  Spirit  for  an  uncommon  usefulness. 

She  attended  the  best  girls’  high  school  of  our 
mission  in  this  great  province  (Shantung), 
ranked  with  girls  considerably  older  than  herself, 
and  was  within  a  half  year  of  graduation  when 
she  was  sent  home  by  the  missionary  physician 
in  charge  to  die  of  consumption. 

She  had  been  greatly  impressed  by  the  soul¬ 
winning  zeal  of  one  of  our  station  members,  and 


114 


A  Chinese  Girl’s  Vow 


115 


now,  in  the  presence  of  her  ruined  prospects,  and 
facing  a  blackness  of  disappointment  possible 
only  to  an  unmarried  girl  in  a  heathen  land,  she 
vowed  a  vow  to  God,  the  Christian  courage  of 
which  can  only  be  realized  by  those  who  have  lived 
years  among  the  Chinese,  speaking  their  lan¬ 
guage,  in  sympathetic  friendship  and  devoted 
service.  She  vowed  that,  if  God  would  let  her' 
live,  she  would  never  marry,  and  would  give  all 
her  time  and  strength,  without  fixed  remunera¬ 
tion,  to  the  saving  and  training  of  Chinese  women 
for  Christ’s  service. 

In  the  current  magazines  one  reads  of  many 
kinds  of  careers  now  open  to  unmarried  American 
women.  Chinese  heathenism  provides  no  such 
opportunities.  After  seeing  how  a  certain  mis¬ 
sion  school  in  Syria  was  blessing  the  girls  who 
were  allowed  to  attend  it,  I  once  asked,  through 
our  dragoman,  a  petty  Arab  sheik,  why  he  did 
not  educate  his  daughter.  He  pointed  scornfully 
to  an  animal  near  by  and  said:  “As  well  spend 
time  and  money  trying  to  educate  that  cow!” 
That  remark  is  heathenism  with  the  veneer  off. 

In  America  if  a  woman  remains  unmarried,  she 
is  respected  and  honored,  especially  if  she  be  edu¬ 
cated.  In  heathenism  that  does  not  follow.  The 
unmarried  state  in  China,  even  with  education, 
savors  of  moral  and  social  pariahood. 

In  order  to  sense  “the  flavor”  (as  the  Chinese 


116 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


say)  of  what  Miss  Tsiao  determined  to  do,  note 
several  illustrations,  both  of  Christian  and 
heathen  families,  which  reveal  the  Chinese  mind 
on  the  subject,  not  only  of  mature  maidenhood, 
but  even  of  wifehood  without  sons.  I  have  re¬ 
cently  been  in  the  home  of  one  of  our  elders,  the 
father  of  five  children,  all  girls.  Though  quite 
model  Christians  and  real  leaders  in  our  native 
church,  the  hearts  of  Elder  and  Mrs.  Chou  were 
blistered  because  they  had  no  son.  It  was  hard 
for  them  to  be  reconciled  to  the  providence  of  God. 
But  one  Sabbath  they  heard  a  sermon  about  the 
mercy  of  God  to  Zacharias  and  Elisabeth.  And 
daily  for  three  years  they  prayed  steadfastly  and 
believingly  for  a  son.  At  the  end  of  that  period 
they  were  rewarded.  This  case  well  illustrates 
the  longings  of  the  hearts  of  even  the  Christian 
women  of  China. 

Recently  I  was  entertained  in  the  home  of  a 
rich  member  of  the  gentry  who  was  not  a  Chris¬ 
tian.  The  man  and  his  wife  were  gracious  hosts, 
kind  and  thoughtful  to  a  degree,  though  in  a  very 
different  way  from  those  in  Christ.  But  both  are 
dissatisfied,  full  of  heartburnings ;  he,  much  away 
from  home,  looking  for  a  likely  concubine,  and 
with  his  wife’s  consent,  for  they  have  only  girls. 
To  me  she  wailed  out  the  bitterness  of  her  lot. 
And  though  the  woman  is  eager  to  hear  and  learn 
of  all  things  foreign,  and  their  house  is  cluttered 


A  Chinese  Girl's  Vow 


117 


with  foreign  clocks  and  fancy  dishes  and  lamps 
and  expensive  furniture,  yet  what  interested  her 
more  than  all  these  things  and  many  other  things 
of  the  West,  of  which  she  asked,  were  three  little 
inexpensive  pictures  that  I  presented  to  her,  the 
birth  of  John  the  Baptist,  the  Christchild  in  the 
manger,  and  the  boy  Samuel  presented  to  Eli. 
And,  learning  their  meaning,  she  vowed  forthwith 
to  begin  to  pray  regularly  to  a  God  who  could 
work  such  marvels. 

In  our  own  home  is  a  servant,  one  of  the  most 
sincere  and  consistent  Christians  I  have  known. 
She  is  concubine  No.  4  of  a  venerable-looking 
heathen  who  in  sheer  despair  added  her  to  his 
women  because  the  others  had  not  borne  sons  to 
him.  And  then,  when  she  on  three  separate  occa¬ 
sions  presented  him  with  a  girl  baby,  he,  in 
mingled  chagrin  and  anger,  named  the  third  un¬ 
wanted  unfortunate  6 ‘Enough,”  and  turned  the 
mother  and  babe  loose  to  shift  for  themselves. 

But  even  this  was  more  gracious  than  the  cus¬ 
tom  of  many  disgusted  fathers,  who  tell  their 
womenfolks  to  give  the  girl  babies  merely  num¬ 
bers,  not  *names,  or  throw  them  out,  food  for 
starving  curs  and  carrion  birds.  This  treatment 
is  often  accompanied  with  revolting  and  barba¬ 
rous  “frills"  because  of  the  cruel  belief  current 
and  propagated  by  the  priests,  that  girl  babies 
are  demons  sent  in  disguise  to  harass  and  im- 


118 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


poverish  a  family,  and  so  long  as  they  are  em¬ 
bodied  in  that  tender  frame  these  evil  spirits  may 
be  destroyed  or  at  least  mocked  with  impunity. 
Hence  the  indescribable  atrocities  that  occur  in 
many  a  field  outside  a  village  in  the  presence  of 
a  priest  and  kin  and  neighbors,  the  horrid  deed 
being  even  performed  by  the  mother ’s  hand,  such 
an  act  being  proof  positive  that  she  repents  of 
having  brought  disaster  upon  the  family.  The 
use  of  a  grub  hoe  as  an  instrument  of  execution 
is  supposed  to  clear  away  all  doubt  as  to  the  sin¬ 
cerity  of  the  mother’s  protestations  of  regret. 
But,  thank  God!  even  these  foul  deeds  cannot 
utterly  break  the  spirit  of  Chinese  women  nor 
rob  them  wholly  of  their  part  in  God’s  precious 
legacy  to  women  of  the  mother-heart.  But  enough 
to  indicate  that,  outside  of  wifehood  and  hoped- 
for  motherhood  of  boys,  most  Chinese  women 
have  a  pretty  slim  chance  of  happiness. 

Now,  of  course,  Miss  Tsiao  was  cognizant  of 
the  conditions  involved  in  her  decision,  as  indi¬ 
cated  by  the  cases  cited.  She  realized  that,  from 
the  viewpoint  of  the  Chinese  heathen  world,  her1 
only  title  to  respectability  would  be  through  wife¬ 
hood.  From  this  she  might  rise  in  the  scale  to 
the  dignity  of  motherhood  of  sons.  This  state 
(still  viewing  the  matter  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  masses  about  her)  could  make  her  life  not 
only  tolerable,  but  desirable. 


A  Chinese  Girl’s  Vow 


119 


In  the  face  of  such  a  situation,  the  magnificent 
determination  of  this  yonng  woman,  her  intellect, 
keener  than  most  others  of  her  sex,  her  mind  bet¬ 
ter  trained,  and  her  outlook  broader  to  compre¬ 
hend  what  mnst  therefore  be  before  her,  this  de¬ 
termination  and  its  fruitage,  for  sheer  courage 
and  self-abnegation,  will,  in  its  spirit,  rank  with 
some  of  the  deeds  of  high  honor  for  the  glory  of 
God. 

This  young  woman  had  given  herself  wholly  to 
God  for  his  glory.  She  knew  she  had  the  right 
to  pray  with  something  of  the  same  freedom  and 
abandon  with  which  Jesus  prayed.  She  prayed 
for  her  life.  She  was  the  bride  of  Christ.  She 
claimed  her  body  in  strength  for  her  Lord’s  sake. 
And,  to  the  amazement  of  everybody,  including 
her  devoted  parents,  sorrowing  for  her  as  for  one 
doomed,  this  young  woman  began  to  get  better. 
She  became  so  strong  in  a  few  months  that  she 
was  engaged  by  a  sister  mission  to  be  head  teacher 
in  a  girls’  high  school. 

In  this  school  she  was  a  marked  personality,  a 
wonder  even  to  the  missionaries  in  her  physical 
endurance,  her  mental  grasp,  her  ability  to  teach, 
and  in  the  pervasiveness  of  her  spirituality.  Her 
influence  on  the  girls  under  her  was  remarkable, 
both  as  example  and  incentive.  While  serving 
her  Master  here,  putting  moral  fiber  into  the 
girls,  the  opening  for  which  she  had  been  praying 


120 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


came.  Her  parents,  as  a  thank  offering  for  her 
recovery,  started  on  their  own  compound  a 
women’s  Bible  school,  the  first  and  only  one  of 
its  kind  of  which  I  have  been  able  to  learn  in 
China,  opened  it  in  faith,  without  any  assured 
income.  They  were  assisted  in  the  inauguration 
of  the  plan  by  one  of  our  station  members  and 
by  the  Chinese  evangelist,  then  one  of  our  pas¬ 
tors,  the  Kev.  Ting  Li  Mei.  Since  its  founding 
the  school  has  been  run  and  largely  supported  by 
the  Chinese. 

The  school  was  for  widows  before  whom  life 
yawns  a  blank.  True,  the  Chinese  erect  all  over 
the  fields  and  by  the  waysides  monuments  in 
praise  of  such  women  who  never  remarry.  But 
these  are  thin  comfort  for  the  lot  of  the  widow 
in  China.  This  school  opened  the  way  for  such 
women  to  be  grounded  in  the  Scripture,  and  to 
go  out  two  by  two  to  expound  it  to  their  darkened 
sisters.  And  the  graduates  of  this  school  have 
begun  to  do  that  very  thing,  on  the  salary  of 
two  dollars  a  month. 

But  who  was  there  to  teach  such  a  school? 
Teachers  in  plenty  could  be  found  for  our  regular 
village  schools,  high  school  graduates  of  excellent 
training  and  piety.  None  of  these,  however, 
would  do.  It  required  one  of  uncommon  grace 
and  love  and  patience  to  deal  with  these  unfor¬ 
tunate  ones.  They  were  in  all  stages  of  dullness 


A  Chinese  Girl’s  Vow 


121 


and  stupidity.  One  of  the  entering  students  had 
been  nearly  pounded  to  death  by  a  brutal  hus¬ 
band.  One  we  bought  who  was  about  to  be  sold 
to  a  brothel  procurer.  One  had  been  deserted 
and  was  starving  on  the  street.  One  was  so  im- 
bruted  by  grinding  at  the  mill  and  like  heavy 
labor  that  she  seemed  past  the  possibility  of  much 
light  percolating  down  into  her  thickened  mind. 
One  had  been  rescued  from  the  village  well,  in 
whose  unclean  waters  she  had  sought  peace. 
Another  had  been  resuscitated  from  a  poison  po¬ 
tion  made  by  soaking  match  heads,  her  panacea 
for  the  tyranny  of  a  cruel  mother-in-law. 

Practically  each  woman  was  a  class  by  herself, 
requiring  so  much  wise  and  loving  individual  at¬ 
tention  that  only  one  from  whose  life  irradiated 
the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ  could  hope 
to  deal  with  them  all.  Such  a  one  was  found  in 
Miss  Tsiao,  who  eagerly  entered  upon  the  service 
without  fixed  salary,  gladly  trusting  her  Heavenly 
Father  to  supply  all  her  needs. 

The  school  has  now  been  running  some  years, 
the  Chinese  Christians  are  taking  a  deeper  in¬ 
terest  in  it  each  year,  and  the  number  of  pupils 
steadily  increases.  Each  year  more  Christians 
are  becoming  responsible  for  the  board  of  the 
pupils  (which  is  $7.50  a* year,  and  practically  the 
only  expense).  Several  classes,  each  of  from 
three  to  six  members,  have  graduated  from  the 


122 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


school  and  are  already  at  work  planting  light 
centers.  Two  other  teachers  have  now  been  in¬ 
stalled.  The  increase  of  attendance  is  hampered 
by  lack  of  adequate  sleeping  places.  If  rooms 
conld  be  provided  for  this  purpose,  Elder  Tsiao 
would  give  all  land  needed  to  erect  them.  For 
this  Miss  Tsiao  and  friends  earnestly  pray. 

Truly,  if  there  ever  was  a  blessed  work  helping 
to  remold  for  God  the  women  who  have  such  op¬ 
portunity  to  remold  the  most  virile  of  races,  this 
work  is  blessed.  Truly,  if  any  woman  consumed 
with  a  passion  to  help  the  helpless,  and  grateful 
to  God  for  a  wondrous  healing,  may  ever  hope  to 
look  upon  the  face  of  Him  whom  having  not  seen 
she  loves,  this  woman  may.  It  is  hers  to  hear 
the :  “  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father.  Enter  into 
the  joy  prepared  for  you.  I  was  despised  in  my 
daughters  and  ye  honored  me  in  serving  them. 
My  name  was  forgotten,  unknown,  and  ye  caused 
it  to  be  held  in  precious  remembrance.  Ye  sought 
the  weak  and  made  them  to  become  strong  in 
Me.” 

This  holy  maid  has  learned  the  secret  of  ap¬ 
proach  to  God:  “Ye  shall  .  .  .  find  me  when 

ye  shall  search  for  me  with  all  your  heart !  ’  ’  For 
such  he  hath  wonderful  reward  even  now.  To  her 
he  hath  said:  “Before  they  call  I  will  answer.”’ 

She  knows,  out  of  what  was  on  her  part  a  joy¬ 
ous  laying  of  self  on  the  altar,  that  it  is  good  to 


A  Chinese  Girl’s  Vow 


123 


belong  to  that  company  numbering  Zacharias  and 
Elisabeth,  Simeon  and  Anna,  Joseph  of 
Arimathea,  and  all  those  saints  and  martyrs  who 
here  and  now  are  looking  for  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom  of  God, 


CHAPTER  X 


A  BLESSED  SURPRISE  FOR  AN 
AGED  BLIND  MAN 

III  another  connection  I  have  told  the  strange 
and  terrible  story  of  the  murder  of  my  friend, 
Elder  Yuan  Feng  Kang ;  he,  who,  in  one  profitable 
business,  had  dedicated  all  his  profits  to  the  Lord. 
He  had  another  business,  and  in  this  second  busi¬ 
ness  he  had  a  “silent  partner,’ ’  P’eng  Ch’ang 
Ch’wen,  also  a  fine  Christian  man  who  gave  a 
tenth  of  his  profits  in  this  business  to  the  Lord. 
This  partner  was  a  preacher  for  another  mission, 
and  was  actively  engaged  in  evangelistic  work. 
His  zeal  for  the  Lord,  I  doubt  not,  had  much  to 
do  with  the  blessing  that  was  to  come  to  his 
father.  His  father,  at  the  time  of  this  episode, 
was  seventy  years  old,  and  blind;  blind,  as  he 
explained,  from  the  general  infirmities  of  advanc¬ 
ing  age.  This  father,  too,  was  zealous  in  the 
“Jesus  Doctrine.”  As  the  Chinese  put  it,  “He 
was  possessed  of  a  burning  heart  for  Christ.” 
And  how  the  old  man  became  cured  recently  of 
his  blindness  through  prayer,  it  is  the  object  of 
this  narrative  to  relate. 


124 


A  Blessed  Surprise 


125 


Let  me  state  again  what  I  am  sure  is  an  im¬ 
portant  factor  in  the  work  of  grace  that  followed. 
Even  before  his  cure  this  father  was  what  the 
Chinese  call  “ten  parts  zealous  for  God”  (a 
phrase  indicating  absolute  devotion  to  His  cause). 
The  father  was  noted  .in  his  region  for  preaching 
the  Gospel  on  every  possible  occasion.  Not  as  a 
paid  evangelist  did  he  do  .it,  but  out  of  his  irre¬ 
pressible  love  and  gratitude  to  his  Saviour. 
Whenever  the  preacher  son  would  return  to  see 
him  the  old  man  would  urge  him  to  stay  at  home 
the  very  minimum  of  time  in  order  that  he  might 
hurry  away  once  more  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
those  who  were  perishing.  The  father  had  earlier 
had  a  vision,  of  his  being  called  to  account  with 
God  before  he  had  done  any  faithful,  efficient 
service,  and  it  had  made  a  profound  impression 
upon  him.  In  consequence  he  was  eager  to  im¬ 
prove,  with  soul-winning,  the  time  of  his  few  re¬ 
maining  and  fast-fading  years.  In  connection 
with  his  vision  the  old  man,  for  the  first  time  in 
his  life,  had  heard  Daniel  12:3,  “They  that  be 
wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firma¬ 
ment;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness 
as'  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever.”  That  grand 
passage  settled  his  conviction  as-  to  what  subject 
was  worthy  to  possess  a  man’s  thoughts,  to 
dominate  his  life. 

In  the  spring  of  1915,  after  our  visit  together 


126 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


upon  the  widow  of  the  murdered  elder,  Pastor 
Chao  told  this  “silent  partner”  the  story  of  old 
Lin,  a  well-known  Christian,  also  reputed  for  his 
zeal  in  the  faith,  now  eighty  years  of  age,  who 
was  of  Chao  Ke  Chuang  in  Kao  Mi  County,  the 
county  where  Pastor  Chao  has  one  of  his 
churches.  Pastor  Chao  went  on  to  tell  how,  when 
old  Liu  was  seventy  years  of  age,  his  only  child, 
a  son,  together  with  his  wife,  suddenly  and  un¬ 
accountably  died,  both  at  the  same  time.  As  old 
Liu  mourned  he  burst  the  blood  vessels  of  his 
eyes,  and  thus  his  grief  caused  him  to  become 
blind.  This  going  blind,  either  through  a  fit  of 
anger  or  inconsolable  sorrow,  is  a  common 
phenomenon  in  China.  But  in  spite'  of  his  dis¬ 
tress  the  old  man  did  not  give  up  his  faith,  going 
regularly  to  church,  though  now  greatly  handi¬ 
capped,  to  get  as'  much  comfort  as  he  could  from 
the  Christian  religion  in  his  lonely  and  declining 
years.  One  Sabbath  day,  bound  for  church,  Liu, 
all  alone,  was  feeling  his  way  along  in  a'  pitiful 
manner,  very  haltingly,  not  as  an  expert  blind 
man,  blind  from  his  youth,  who  picks  his  way 
quite  readily  along  a  road  well  known  to  him.  At 
last  he  found  himself  off  his  path,  stumbling 
among  the  grave  mounds  of  a-  private  graveyard. 
Just  then  a  heathen  neighbor,  passing,  called  out 
in  derision  (this  is  the  spirit  of  callousness  char¬ 
acterizing  heathenism,  and  one  cannot  help  but 


A  Blessed  Surprise 


127 


link  it  with  the  spirit  of  those  who  wagged  their 
heads  at  One  upon  the  cross),  “Why  can  not  your 
God  make  a. blind  man  to  see?  Can  He  not  see 
you ?  Is  He  not  strong?  Why  do  you  not  be¬ 
seech  your  foreign  Jesus  Holy-man?  Why  does 
he  not  help  you?  Why  do  you  come  here  to  this 
place  of  the  dead  for  comfort?  Do  you  not  know, 
‘Ssu>  UaOj  ssu  liao,  La*  tao  pa!’”  (Die!  Die! 
And  that’s  the  end  of  you — like  a  dog.)  These 
are  among  the  most  terrible  words  of  Chinese 
heathenism.  Only  one  familiar  with  the  hopeless 
soul  conditions  out  of  which  they  grow  can  un¬ 
derstand  something  of  the  bitterness,  the  hard¬ 
ness  of  heart,  in  this  sarcasm  of  mock  comfort 
that  the  annihilation  of  the  grave  offers  (though, 
at  the  same  time,  this  popular  belief  is  illogically 
contradicted  by  the  universal  worship  of  the  liv¬ 
ing  spirits  of  dead  ancestors). 

By  these  cruel  words  the  old  man  was  stirred 
to  a  new  realization  of  things,  to  spiritual  per¬ 
spective.  Moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he,  in  daring 
faith,  replied  to  his  taunter :  ‘  ‘  The  true  and  living 
God  can  help  me,  and  from  now  on  I  shall  trust 
Him,  and  in  faith  believing,  I  am  going  to  pray 
to  Him  to  heal  my  eyes!”  So  he  began  that  day 
to  pray  earnestly,  casting  himself  utterly  upon 
the  grace  and  the  power  of  God,  saying  over  and 
over  to  himself:  “The  Lord  has  promised,  ac¬ 
cording  to  thy  faith  be  it  unto  thee.”  He  medi- 


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Answered  Prayer  in  China 


tated  on  that  promise,  soaked  himself  in  it,  and 
actually  claimed  it’.  In  a  few’  days  he  saw.  His 
eyes  were  better  than*  ever  before.  He  did  not 
use  glasses.  The  heathen  taunt  was  rebuked. 

As  soon  as  the  evangelist  partner  of  Elder 
Yuan  heard  this*  account,  he  hastened  to  his  aged 
father  and  repeated  it  to  him;  and  the  old  man 
was  smitten  with  conviction  that  he  no  longer 
needed  to  be  blind  merely  because  he  was  getting 
old.  So  he  and  a  company  of  friends,  including 
us  two  pastors'  and  several  elders,  met  statedly 
out  in  the  country,  praying  in  faith  together  for 
his  restoration  to  sight.  A  year  passed  and  at 
the  end  of  that  year  his  sight,  like  the  other  old 
man’s,  was  quite  restored.  He  also  does  not  use 
glasses. 

His  favorite  verse  is:  “He  shineth  in  darkness 
to  them  that  seek  Him,  to  them  that  seek  Him 
with  the  whole  heart.”  Again  was  the  promise 
verified :  ‘  ‘  Them  that  honor  Me  I  will  honor.  ’  ’ 


CHAPTER  XI 

CASTING  OUT  A  HERD  OF  SWINE  DEMONS 

In  this  story  are  shown  the  deviPs  uncanny 
deeds  of  darkness  in  the  villages  where  he  is  un¬ 
hindered  by  those  with  faith  in  God.  It  illus¬ 
trates  to  us  anew  the  wisdom  of  personal  work 
and  the  power  of  intercession. 

The  Gospel  came  to  this  village  through  old  Li, 
the  radiant.  He  was  the  means  of  converting  a 
young  relative,  a  member  of  an  influential  clan, 
who,  soon  after  his  conversion,  became  a  pupil  of 
our  Boys’  High  School  at  Tsingtau.  The  young 
fellow’s  character,  like  his  face,  was  lovable, 
winsome  and  open.  He  began  doing  personal 
work  at  once,  intently,  earnestly,  among  his  fam¬ 
ily — brothers,  sisters  and  parents ;  the  last  a  diffi¬ 
cult  thing  even  in  a  Christian  land.  What  this 
means  in  China  is  only  understandable  by  those 
who  realize  the  Confucian  ideals  in  which  this 
boy  was  bred.  A  son  to  instruct  his  father! 
When,  by  all  Confucian  teaching,  the  son  is  hardly 
supposed  to  remain  in  the  room  with  his  father, 
and,  if  he  remains,  to  do  so  standing!  Never  to 
eat  with  him  on  any  ceremonial  occasion,  not  to 

129 


A 


130 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


dream  of  assuming  to  possess,  much  less  to 
parade,  even  the  seeming  of  superior  knowledge ! 
This  innovation  of  daring  impiety,  unfiliality,  im¬ 
ported  out  of  “the  irreverent  West,”  would  make 
Confucius  turn  over  in  his  grave ! 

The  son,  as  one  who  had  come  to  know  Christ, 
did  excellently  in  school.  He  was  conscientious 
to  give  diligence  to  present  himself  “approved 
unto  God,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed,  holding  a  straight  course  in  the  word 
of  truth.”  Moreover,  being  a  fellow  of  fine  parts, 
he  was  a  natural  leader  in  the  school  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
also  a  zealous  member  of  its  preaching  band. 
Twelve  of  his  relatives,  immediate  members  of 
his  family,  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  were 
brought  by  him  into  the  church,  and  into  a  saving 
knowledge  of  Christ,  as  we  have  reason  to  believe. 
His  daily  conduct  was  an  impressive  illustration 
of  the  wisdom  of  “individual  work  for  individ¬ 
uals,”  and  of  how  God  empowers  a  sincere,  alert, 
obedient  servant. 

During  his  senior  year  young  Wan’s  witness 
before  his  school  fellows  was  manifestly  led  by 
the  Spirit.  One  day  during  the  summer  vacation, 
soon  after  his  arrival  home,  when  he  was  leading 
family  worship,  his  heathen  grandmother  was 
suddenly  taken  violently  ill.  She  trembled,  she 
clutched  the  air,  she  struck  at  unseen  beings,  she 
gnashed  her  teeth.  With  difficulty  they  put  her 


Casting  Out  Demons 


131 


on  the  hang,  the  brick  platform  that  serves  as 
bed;  but  they  could  not  make  her  lie  down.  She 
rocked  and  bowed  in  paroxysms  that  were  more 
than  of  mere  physical  pain,  making  terrible 
grimaces.  Her  fingers  were  so  firmly  clinched 
together  that  one  of  her  grandsons,  a  stalwart 
peasant  of  unusual  strength,  who  was  called  in  to 
force  her  hands  apart,  was  unable  to  do  so.  Her 
face,  in  its  distortion,  was  awful.  All  the  time 
she  muttered  and  mumbled  wild  things  to  herself. 
The  picture  her  family  drew  of  the  spectacle  of 
the  old  woman  on  the  hang  was  terrifying  in  the 
extreme.  They  all  instinctively  felt  that  the 
ta  Lao  Yin  Kia,  “the  Great,  Venerable  Family 
Head”  (euphemistic  name  for  the  devil),  had 
come  and  possessed  her. 

In  the  course  of  these  doings,  so  degrading  and 
dreadful,  the  old  lady  incoherently  demanded 
food;  and  when  it  was  brought,  she  handled  her 
bowl  and  chop  sticks  in  a  most  extraordinary 
fashion,  while  her  strange  manner  of  eating,  not 
only  coarse  and  voracious,  but  bestial,  together 
with  her  noises  connected  therewith,  frightened 
those  watching  her.  It  was,  much  as  they  hesi¬ 
tated  to  say  it,  like  that  of  a  hog!  And  she  a 
grandmother!  For  some  time  she  talked,  though 
not  under  standingly,  breaking  out  at  the  close  in 
this  clear  sentence:  “Woa  shih  chu  huin  hwei 
tsi!”  (“I  am  a  herd  of  swine  devils.”) 


132 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


As  stated  above,  a  number  of  the  family  were 
now  believers,  some  had  already  been  baptized, 
but  the  most  mature  in  Christian  experience  was 
our  schoolboy  friend  Wan.  He  called  upon  those 
present  to  unite  with  him  in  reading  aloud  a  Gos¬ 
pel  account  of  Jesus  casting  out  a  demon  and  in 
audibly  petitioning  for  the  exorcism  of  these 
imps.  Together  they  knelt  in  front  of  the 
frenzied  woman  and  together  gave  themselves  for 
half  an  hour  to  prayer,  desperately  earnest  and 
believing.  Then,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  accord¬ 
ing  to  Scripture  example  (Acts  16:18)  they  called 
upon  the  unclean  spirits  to  leave  her.  The  old 
lady  fell  back  upon  her  hang,  though  very  much 
weakened,  hardly  able  to  lift  her  hand,  yet  her 
body  and  mind  were  no  longer  tortured,  quiet  in 
Him,  Enabler  and  Comforter. 

The  believing  members  of  her  family  were 
weak,  too,  dripping  with  perspiration  from  their 
agony  of  intercession.  And  when  I  next  saw  the 
young  man  he  told  me  that,  after  that  experience, 
he  understood  a  little  of  what  Paul  meant  when 
he  told  the  Ephesian  Christians :  ‘  ‘  Our  wrestling 
is  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against  the 
principalities,  against  the  powers,  against  the 
world  rulers  of  this  darkness,  against  the  spiritual 
hosts  of  wickedness  in  the  heavenly  places’ ’ 
(Eph.  6:12). 

What  had  happened  was  to  be  expected ;  for  the 


Casting  Out  Demons 


133 


experience  was  in  harmony  with  Bible  narratives, 
which  state  that  all  unbelievers  are  open  to  pos¬ 
session  by  demons  (Eph.  2:2)  which  are  spirits 
(Matt.  12:43,  45)  and  Satan’s  emissaries  (Matt. 
2:26,  27)  and  so  numerous  as  to  make  his  power 
practically  ubiquitous  (Mark  5:9).  They  are 
capable  of  entering  and  controlling  both  men  and 
beasts  (Mark  5:8,  11-13)  and  earnestly  seek  em¬ 
bodiment  without  which,  apparently,  they  are 
powerless  for  evil  (Matt.  12:43,  44;  Mark  5:10- 
12).  They  manifest  three  stages  of  virulence, 
they  influence  men,  they  inflict  physical  maladies, 
and  they  entirely  possess  their  victims  (Matt. 
4:24;  8:16,  28)  as  they  did  this  woman.  They 
know  Jesus  Christ  as  Most  High  God,  recognizing 
His  supreme  authority  (Matt.  8:31,  32;  Mark 
1:24;  Acts  19:15),  and  they  know  their  eternal 
fate  to  be  one  of  torment  (Matt.  8 :29 ;  Luke  8 :31). 
Meanwhile,  in  all  their  acts,  they  reveal  their  true 
nature,  unclean,  sullen,  violent,  malicious  (Matt. 
9 :33 ;  10 :12 ;  12 :43 ;  Mark  5 :3-5 ;  Luke  6 :18 ;  9 :39) , 
as  in  this  instance. 

They  maintain  especially  a  conflict  with  be¬ 
lievers  who  would  be  spiritual  (Eph.  6:12;  1  Tim. 
4:1-3),  and  the  believer  ’s  resources,  again  as  in 
this  case,  are  prayer  and  bodily  control  (Matt. 
17 :21),  the  whole  armor  of  God  (Eph.  6:13-18). 

At  last  the  grandmother  said  in  an  audible  tone, 
“Oh,  I  am  so  relieved!  The  dirty  herd  has  left 


134 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


me.  I  besought  the  true  God.  He  heard.  He 
pitied.  He  drove  out  the  demons.  My  heart  now 
has  peace !”  And  without  effort  she  opened  her 
hands,  so  long  locked  in  a  frenzy  of  animal-like 
fury.  In  his  fruitless  efforts  to  unclasp  that  vise- 
grip,  with  the  thought  that  possibly  he  might 
thereby  relieve  her  in  those  paroxysms  of  dis¬ 
tress,  the  strong  grandson  had  rubbed  skin  off  her 
lingers.  Imagine  now  the  amazement  of  the  fam¬ 
ily  to  see  her,  without  effort,  open  them,  and, 
above  all,  to  see  her  smiling,  satisfied,  at  rest.  To 
this  was  added  glad  amaze  when  she  said:  “Oh, 
I  have  seen  Him.” 

“Who?”  they  queried. 

“Jesus  the  Saviour!”  she  answered.  “He 
came  to  me  when  they  were  tearing  me.  He  gave 
me  release!” 

Incidentally,  I  may  add,  by  way  of  commentary 
on  this  episode,  that  I  have  in  my  note-taking  on 
interesting,  spiritual  experiences  among  the 
people  numerous  instances  in  which  the  Chris¬ 
tians  affirm  that  during  their  supreme  soul-crises 
they  have  in  vision  seen  the  resurrected  Jesus, 
of  greater  than  human  size,  clad  in  white,  of  in¬ 
effably  benignant  mien,  gracious  beyond  compare, 
altogether  glorious.  Why  not  ?  The  Scripture  is 
full  of  theophanies,  count  them  once  and  see  how 
many,  manifested  in  the  midst  of  heathenism,  dur¬ 
ing  the  crises  of  God’s  people,  as  Paul  in  Corinth, 


Casting  Out  Demons 


135 


when  they  need  the  realization  of  divine  power 
and  love  undergirding  them.  Moreover,  the 
Christians  affirm  that  these  appearances  of  the 
risen  Lord  are  uniformly  connected  with  his  sud¬ 
den  releasing  of  them  from  demon  possession,  or 
miraculously  healing  them  in  desperate  sickness, 
or  sustaining  and  comforting  them  in  dreadful 
trials.  In  view  of  much  Scripture  proof  along 
this  line,  I  again  ask  ‘  6  Why  not  ?  ’  ’ 

Previous  to  this  gracious  turning  point  in  her 
life  the  grandmother  had  violently  opposed  the 
“  Jesus  Doctrine/  ’  doing  so  with  all  the 
vehemence  of  her  woman’s  nature.  For  women 
in  China,  as  elsewhere,  take  keenly,  in  a  personal 
way,  matters  that  touch  their  family  life  and  in¬ 
volve  possible  disgrace  to  its  members.  Be  it 
understood  that  many  a  time  have  ignorant,  timid, 
abused  and  apparently  broken-spirited  women 
dared  to  rise  up  and  beat  their  men  folk  because 
they  had  turned  Christians,  this  wild  and  des¬ 
perate  action  being  in  the  defense  of  their  homes 
(as  they  understood  defense)  against  the  sup¬ 
posed  blasphemy,  unfiliality,  and  insidiously  un¬ 
dermining  power  of  the  “foreign  devil”  religion. 

Now,  at  once  and  with  all  her  heart,  the  old 
lady  believed,  and  what  under  the  circumstances 
is  Scripturally  natural,  she  urged  the  other  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  family  to  believe.  Was  it  not  Paul 
who  said:  “I  believe;  therefore  I  speak!”  And 


136 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


it  is  to  bo  remembered  that,  in  the  Confucian  sys¬ 
tem,  a  woman  who  has  sons  and  grandsons,  with 
danghter-in-laws  at  her  beck  and  call,  is  of  no 
mean  influence  in  the  clan. 

And  so  another  miracle  grew  out  of  the  demon 
exorcism.  Some  weeks  later  I  was  examining  for 
church  admission  three  generations  of  that  clan, 
the  demon-cured  among  them.  Relative  to  such  a 
woman,  grandmother  of  male  children,  and  the 
risks  involved  in  rousing  the  ire  of  one  of  her 
solid  status,  the  Chinese  have  this  prudent 
proverb:  “She  has  wide-spreading  branches,  let 
us  get  under  her  shadow !  Who  shall  oppose  her, 
for  is  not  she  the  venerable  mother-in-law  F’ 
Previous  to  this  particular  potentate’s  change  of 
heart,  members  of  her  family  who  believed  the 
Jesus  Doctrine  had  done  so  under  serious  handi¬ 
cap.  Now,  inquirers  in  this  same  family,  men, 
women  and  children,  had  a  heavy  weight  of 
feminine  displeasure,  hitherto  unescapable,  lifted. 
This  made  a  strong  impression  for  Christianity 
in  the  village,  and,  incidentally,  one  result  of  the 
impression  will  be  the  establishment  of  a  Chris¬ 
tian  school  there  next  year,  which,  in  the  teeth  of 
the  unreasoning  prejudice  of  heathen  villagers, 
is  usually  a  process  covering  years,  and  often  full 
of  most  unexpected  vicissitudes. 

From  the  Chinese  viewpoint,  one  of  the  most 
striking  results  of  this  prayer  miracle  is  that,  in- 


Casting  Out  Demons 


137 


eluded  among  these  inquirers,  is  the  heathen 
granddaughter-in-law,  the  young,  inexperienced 
wife  of  our  high  school  senior,  to  whom,  as  a  baby, 
he  was  betrothed,  by  his  then  heathen  parents. 
One  familiar  with  Chinese  social  life  could  hardly 
imagine  the  daughter-in-law  taking  such  a  stand 
without  having,  as  in  the  case  of  this  girl,  the 
active  support  of  the  women  of  two  older  genera¬ 
tions.  Even  so,  the  marvel  of  this  girl’s  courage 
in  coming  to  Christ  is  the  talk  of  the  village.  They 
whisper,  “What  will  her  father’s  family  say?” 
And  wiseacres  ex  cathedra  dolefully  pronounce, 
“There  will  be  a  law  suit  over  this  disgrace.” 
For  much  of  the  thought  and  action  of  the  heathen 
is  based  on  fear  and  timidity,  so  that  they  follow 
a  will-o’-the-wisp  that  is  cowardly  caution.  To 
one  living  in  the  midst  of  this  heathenism  there 
is  much  food  for  thought  in  Paul’s  discerning  re¬ 
mark:  “For  God  has  not  given  us  (Christians) 
the  spirit  of  fear ,  but  of  power  and  of  love  and 
of  a  sound  mind !  ’  ’  Incentive  and  freedom,  initia¬ 
tive  and  accomplishment,  are  often  throttled  by 
the  almost  insane  casting  about  with  regard  to 
the  avoidance  of  offense  to  others,  rather  than  the 
saying  and  doing  of  what  is  right  at  personal  risk. 
And,  incidentally,  that  paralyzing  spirit  that 
keeps  back  Wan’s  village  from  accepting  Christ 
explains  in  part  China’s  present  political  impo¬ 
tence. 


138 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


Only  two  other  glad  results  of  the  old  lady’s 
miraculous  healing  may  be  here  chronicled. 
Young  Wan  has  been  so  strengthened  in  faith  as 
to  go  to  a  very  hard  village  to  teach  in  one  of  our 
schools  where  all  the  boys  (and  their  constitu¬ 
ency)  are  heathen,  and  he  is  doing  admirably. 
His  father  has  cast  to  the  wind  his  former  fear 
of  persecution,  substituting  Christ’s  omnipotence 
for  his  own  impotence,  and  has  joyfully  assumed 
the  responsibilities  of  the  deaconate  for  his  part 
of  the  held.  And  the  work  of  grace  has  just 
begun ! 

I  have  seen  few  instances  in  China  that  more 
clearly  illustrate  the  wisdom  of  personal  work 
and  the  power  of  intercession. 


CHAPTER  XII 

A  LITTLE  CHILD  SHALL  LEAD  THEM 


We  were  tramping  over  a  mountain  trail  to  a 
church  dedication.  My  companions  were  two 
highly  esteemed  Chinese  friends,  a  pastor  and 
an  elder,  constituting  with  me  the  committee  to 
organize  a  church. 

As  was  our  custom,  we  discoursed,  as  we 
walked,  of  church  problems  and  policies  and  of 
Bible  themes,  finally  slipping  into  a  subject 
vibrant  with  present-day  interest  in  China,  demon 
possession.  Xot  only  had  each  of  us  authenti¬ 
cated  instances  of  possession  to  narrate  (in  proof 
that  miracles  of  healing  connected  therewith  may 
still  be  wrought),  but  each  of  us  had  participated 
in  at  least  one  case  of  what  seemed  very  like  Bib¬ 
lical  cases  of  demoniacal  exorcism,  a  situation 
that  may  well  make  one’s  flesh  creep  as  he  faces 
it,  if  he  is  not  prepared,  for,  in  this  business  we 
wrestle,  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
powers  who  are  yet  closer  than  breathing,  un¬ 
canny  in  malignant  supernaturalness  from  be¬ 
neath,  against  principalities  the  more  subtle  and 
strong  as  they  are  unencumbered  by  our  earth 


139 


140 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


bodies,  against  the  world  rnlers  of  darkness  who 
now  have  their  innings,  and  against  the  spiritual 
hosts  of  wickedness  in  heavenly  places. 

These  will  not  lightly  let  go  their  stranglehold 
upon  this  planet,  their  prey.  Does  this  seem  un¬ 
likely  or  impossible  in  the  case  of  such  a  land  as 
China,  whose  people  constitute  one-fourth  of  all 
possible  human  victims?  Rather  is  it  altogether 
reasonable  that  so  vast  a  prize  to  be  lost  out  of 
the  devilish  grasp  will  be  desperately  fought  for, 
particularly  as  it  is  still  so  completely  in  the 
clutches  of  the  evil  one.  Truly,  if  the  true  God 
is  to  get  into  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  this  land, 
we  know  that  many  more  demons  must  be  cast 
out. 

Be  it  noted  that  in  the  case  of  demon  possession 
in  China  there  seems  to  be  this  common  feature, 
as  in  Bible  times,  the  demons  speak  through  the 
possessed  ones,  making  them  say  and  do,  either 
consciously  or  unconsciously,  what  is  odious  to 
others  as  well  as  repugnant  and  humiliating  and 
devitalizing  to  themselves.  Also  there  is  fear  on 
the  part  of  the  demon  or  demons  at  the  name  of 
Jesus,  as  well  as  powerlessness  on  the  part  of 
the  demons  in  the  presence  of  a  person  dominated 
by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

As  this  story  seemed  more  strange  than  some 
others  in  its  setting,  more  unexpected  in  its  prin¬ 
ciples,  the  pastor  who  gave  it  to  us  went  rather 


A  Little  Child  Shall  Lead  Them  141 


fully  into  this  case  of  his  boy  friend  being  used 
to  cast  a  demon  out  of  a  girl. 

Many  years  ago,  when  this  pastor  was  a  school¬ 
boy,  he  had  as  schoolmate  the  son  of  a  Presby¬ 
terian  minister,  a  man  noted  for  his  godliness, 
pastor  in  one  part  of  my  present  field.  His  son, 
Tsung  Wei  I,  early  in  childhood,  under  unusually 
favorable  parental  training,  developed  sturdy 
Christian  characteristics  and  zeal  for  propagating 
the  “  Jesus  Religion.”  Later  he  became  an  able 
teacher  in  one  of  our  Christian  colleges,  and  still 
later,  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary  in  a  great  city.  He 
became  a  marked  man  as  a  soul  winner,  his  spirit¬ 
uality  being  intensified  by  harrowing  experiences 
through  which  he  passed  in  the  martyrdom  of 
members  of  his  family  for  the  faith  during  the 
Boxer  uprising. 

While  yet  a  youngster,  his  strong  bent  for 
preaching  the  Gospel  was  a  noteworthy  phe¬ 
nomenon.  Groups  of  people  whom  he  met  on  the 
village  street,  in  going  to  and  from  school,  or  on 
his  way  to  market,  he  would,  with  an  Elijah  or 
a  Savonarola  fervency,  exhort  to  abandon  their 
idols  made  of  mud,  and’  worship  the  true  and  liv¬ 
ing  God.  Sometimes  he  would  take  the  stones 
(which  were  revered  as  gods)  out  of  the  small 
wayside  shrines  and  cast  them  into  the  gutter. 
Nor  was  he,  with  his  family,  ever  punished  for 
this,  as  others  have  often  been  by  the  heathen. 


142  Answered  Prayer  in  China 

When  he  first  went  to  Chefoo  to  study  there  in 
the  boys’  school  of  our  mission,  he  was  given  his 
Christian  name,  Ma  Na  Si,  which  is  the  Chinese 
transliteration  for  the  Hebrew  tribe,  Manasseh, 
and  the  point  of  this  story  revolves  around  this 
name,  for,  when  Dr.  Corbett  gave  him  this  name, 
his  own  relatives  in  his  far  distant  home  did  not 
know  he  had  it,  much  less  the  heathen  neighbors, 
still  less  heathen  strangers  in  another  village  than 
his  own. 

One  vacation,  when  Ma  Na  Si,  then  twelve  years 
of  age,  had  returned  to  his  own  home,  a  rider  in 
great  haste  and  perturbation  arrived  at  his 
father’s  gate.  He  carried  a  message  from  another 
town  some  miles  distant,  and  had  been  sent  by  a 
heathen  family  because  their  young  daughter-in- 
law,  a  heathen,  had  become  so  violent  in  the 
throes  of  demon  possession  that  they,  after  trying 
for  months  to  help  her,  had  given  up  all  hopes 
of  cure  at  their  command,  and  had  finally  decided 
to  ask  the  Christian  minister  to  come  and  see  if 
he  could  do  anything.  Considering  the  loss  of 
face  for  the  heathen  doctors  who  had  so  igno- 
miniously  failed  in  the  case,  and  considering  the 
ignorant  prejudice  and  unreasoning  hate  that 
often  is  felt  for  those  Chinese  who  abandon  the 
worship  of  their  ancestors  and  thereby  change 
many  venerable  customs,  this  was  a  tribute  of  no 
mean  order,  and  an  urgent  plea  for  help. 


A  Little  Child  Shall  Lead  Them;  143 


The  boy’s  father  had  been  sent  for  as  a  4 ‘ Holy 
Man”  of  the  4 ‘Foreign  Devil”  Jesns  religion, 
their  last  resort.  Would  he  go?  The  fellow  at 
the  gate-  on  his  knees  pleaded  so  earnestly  and 
impetuously  that  it  was  some  minutes  before  they 
could  make  him  realize  that  the  minister  was 
away  from  home  upon  a  pastoral  visit.  The  mes¬ 
senger  in  his  distress  insisted  on  describing  to 
the  family  the  symptoms  of  the  victim.  Quite  in 
common  they  were  with  other  cases  often  met, 
varying  only  in  the  circumstances  peculiar  to  each 
home,  and  suggesting  those  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment,  raving  and  reviling  at  times,  pulling  her 
hair,  clawing  her  face,  tearing  her  clothing, 
destroying  articles  of  furniture,  dashing  away  the 
food  brought  to  her  and  breaking  the  dishes,  and 
what  was  most  terrifying  to  the  family,  revealing 
a  spirit  of  sacrilege,  of  outrageous  impiety,  of 
brazen  blasphemy,  mingled  with  impish  malignity 
toward  things  sacred,  and  what  was  of  the  most 
serious  consequence  to  herself,  each  exhibition 
was  followed  by  great  exhaustion,  physical  and 
mental. 

The  unfortunate  victim  was  very  like  that  son 
who  awaited  Jesus  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of 
Transfiguration,  ‘  ‘  And  behold  a  spirit  taketh  him, 
and  he  suddenly  crieth  out,  and  it  teareth  him 
that  he  foameth,  and  it  hardly  departeth  from 
him,  bruising  him  sorely”  (Luke  9:39),  “And 


144 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


wheresoever  it  taketh  him,  it  dasheth  him  down, 
and  he  foameth  and  grindeth  his  teeth  and  pineth 
away  (Mark  9:18),  “And  he  sutfereth  grievonsly; 
for  ofttimes  he  falleth  into  the  fire,  and  oft  into 
the  water ”  (Matt.  17:15). 

And  now  an  unexpected  request,  yet  not 
altogether  strange  in  view  of  the  Oriental  clan 
system  and  of  authority  and  spokesmanship  early 
inhering  in  the  only  or  eldest  son. 

What  could  have  possessed  the  messenger, 
rather,  what  moved  him,  but  the  Spirit  of  God 
that  he,  a  stranger,  should  turn  to  the  lad,  and, 
in  his  desperation,  ask  him  to  go  in  the  place  of 
his  father !  He,  too,  was  a  Jesus  man,  to  be  sure, 
earnest  and  zealous,  but  he  was  immature  in 
years  and  experience.  However,  God  chose  the 
weak  things  of  the  world  that  he  might  put  to 
shame  the  things  that  are  strong.  He  teaches  not 
to  despise  the  potentialities  of  even  five  loaves 
and  two  small  fishes.  A  little  child  shall  lead 
them. 

Youth,  truly  committed  to  Christ,  is  not  fearful 
to  offer  in  simplicity  to  him  all  that  it  possesses. 
So  the  boy  accepted  the  entreaty  as  God-sent; 
and  as  he  rode  along  toward  the  distant  village 
he  made  what  seems  to  be  reasonable  prepara¬ 
tion  on  the  part  of  any  Christian  for  casting  out 
a  demon ;  he  carefully  searched  his  own  heart  for 
sin  to  be  acknowledged  and  repented  of ;  he 


A  Little  Child  Shall  Lead  Them  145 


humbly  confessed  that  sin;  he  prayerfully  re¬ 
viewed  some  of  the  New  Testament  cases  of 
demoniacal  possession  and  the  methods  of  pro¬ 
cedure  there  narrated,  and  then  he  cast  himself 
upon  the  God  of  power  and  mercy  to  help  him 
for  the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ. 

When  he  arrived  at  the  gate  of  the  heathen 
family’s  yard,  and,  remember,  he  had  never  seen 
its  members  and  they  knew  nothing  about  him 
or  his  Christian  name,  he  found  that  they  were 
all  assembled  and,  like  Cornelius  and  his  family 
of  old,  awaiting  his  coming  in  hope  of  relief  and 
comfort.  And,  just  as  in  the  Bible  instances, 
there  must  always  be  some  one  who  will  cry, 
‘ 4 Lord,  if  thou  canst  heal,”  with  the  implication 
of  faith  that  he  can  and  is  willing,  so  this  family 
afterward  testified  that  they  were  thus  moved 
to  feel  and  call  out.  It  was  the  case  over  again, 
in  Chinese  setting,  of  that  Canaanitish  heathen 
woman  out  of  the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  who 
“came  .  .  .  and  cried,  saying,  Have  mercy 
on  me,  0  Lord,  thou  son  of  David;  my  daughter 
is  grievously  vexed  with  a  demon  .  •  .  Lord, 
help  us!” 

Some  of  the  members  of  the  family,  by  main 
strength,  were  holding  down  the  tortured  young 
woman  upon  her  hang .  Though  she  had  not  been 
told  what  the  others  were  doing,  yet  as  soon  as 
she  heard  footsteps  in  the  court  outside  the  room 


146 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


where  they  were  assembled  she  said  with  an  im¬ 
perious  wave  of  her  hand:  “All  of  you  get  out 
of  my  way  quick,  so  that  I  can  leave.  I  must  fly! 
A  Jesus  man  is  coming .  I  cannot  endure  him. 
His  name  is  Ma  Na  Si!”  It  was  all  the  family 
could  do  to  hold  her  by  their  united  force. 

Ma  Na  Si  immediately  entered  the  room,  and 
after  the  ceremonial  bow,  kneeled  down  and  be¬ 
gan  to  pray,  after  which  he  sang  a  Christian 
hymn  in  praise  of  Jesus;  and  then,  in  the  name 
of  the  risen  Lord,  glorified  and  omnipotent,  he 
commanded  the  demon  to  come  out  of  the  woman. 
At  once  she  was  calm,  though  prostrate  in  weak¬ 
ness,  and  from  that  moment  was  no  longer 
troubled.  Later,  after  being  fully  recovered  to 
strength  and  normal  condition,  she,  like  those 
mentioned  in  Bible  narratives,  was  quite  uncon¬ 
scious  of  what  she  had  said  or  done  on  that  mem¬ 
orable  day,  and  she  was  particularly  amazed  to 
hear  that  she  had  uttered  the  name  of  some  one 
whom  she  had  never  seen  nor  even  heard  of,  and 
whose  name  was  a  Bible  name  of  which  she  was 
necessarily  ignorant. 

This  episode,  as  is  one  of  God’s  purposes  in 
the  working  of  his  miracles,  was  used  not  only  to 
strengthen  the  faith  of  those  already  his  fol¬ 
lowers,  but  was  also  the  means  of  opening  the 
way  in  that  village  and  county  for  the  progress 
of  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

PRAYING  BACK  STOLEN  CHURCH  MONEY 

We  had  just  been  holding  a  series  of  evange¬ 
listic  meetings  with  a  little  group  of  Christians 
in  a  heathen  village,  and,  after  three  days 
together,  the  participants  were  escorting  me  on 
the  way,  to  continue  my  itinerary. 

We  had  left  the  village  a  little  distance  and  had 
prayed  together  and  were  saying  our  final  fare¬ 
wells.  Our  fellowship  had  been  blessed.  We  felt 
as  if  we  had  been  upon  the  mountain  top  of  privi¬ 
lege  and  could  not  but  think  that  such  strength¬ 
ening  presaged  some  severe  trial.  Hid  not  the 
demon-possessed  await  those  who  descended  from 
the  transfiguration?  Are  retreats  of  prayer  and 
prayer  privileges  just  for  the  fun  of  it  ? 

Lifting  our  eyes  to  the  horizon  we  descried  a 
man  running  toward  us.  As  he  approached  he 
gesticulated  wildly.  When  near  enough  to  make 
out  who  he  was,  we  exclaimed:  “Deacon  Liu! 
What  can  be  the  matter  ?  ’  ’ 

As  he  approached  us  he  staggered.  When  he 
got  to  us  he  nearly  dropped  and  could  hardly 
speak  from  exhaustion.  He  was  bathed  in  per- 


147 


148 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


spiration.  We  saw  it  was  not  all  due  to  physical 
weariness.  His  beaded  face  showed  anxiety,  even 
terror.  He  gasped  ont,  “Oh,  I  have  lost  it!  I 
have  lost  it !  ’  ’  and  sank  on  the  ground.  Then  he 
moaned,  “Stolen!  Stolen!”  We  conld  hardly 
wait  for  him  to  get  breath  to  give  us  his  story. 

Briefly  it  was  this.  Deacon  Liu  had  been  col¬ 
lecting  an  instalment  of  the  Chinese  pastor  ’s  sal¬ 
ary,  then  due,  also  partial  payments  on  the  wages 
of  several  school  teachers  and  evangelists  and 
Bible  women,  no  small  task,  because  this  pastor 
presided  over  three  churches,  each  in  a  different 
county,  and  extending  through  many  villages.  He 
had  stopped  in  his  own  home  overnight,  expecting 
the  next  day  to  hunt  out  the  parties  concerned 
and  pay  them  what  was  due,  in  all  some  two  hun¬ 
dred  dollars  (Mex)  (less  than  a  hundred  dollars 
American  gold),  a  small  fortune  in  his  local  rural 
life.  This  will  be  the  easier  understood  when  it 
is  added  that  the  pastor  then  was  receiving  the 
munificent  sum  of  fifteen  dollars  (Mex)  a  month 
as  a  salary,  the  school  teachers  forty-eight  dollars 
a  year ,  the  evangelists  eight  dollars  a  month,  and 
the  Bible  women  five  dollars. 

To  lose  this  money  would  be  a  calamity.  On 
such  salaries  there  was  no  margin  to  waste,  yet 
that  very  night  a  thief  had  literally  ‘  ‘  dug  through 
the  wall”  (as  Jesus’  illustration  realistically  puts 
it)  and  stolen  the  money,  a  roll  of  German  bills 


Pkaying  Back  Stolen  Money 


149 


(for  Germany  was  then  the  master  of 
“Kiautschou  Kolonie,”  of  which  Tsing  Tan, 
Tsingtao,  was  the  capital  and  seaport),  and  no 
money  was  then  so  desired  as  the  German. 

The  auditors  needed  no  further  explanation. 
They  understood  such  a  situation  only  too  well. 
Probably  most  of  the  families  represented  had 
suffered  from  the  thief  digging  through  the  mud 
wall.  They  knew  just  how  the  thief  was  accus¬ 
tomed  to  go  at  it.  A  ladder,  by  the  connivance 
of  the  village  watchman,  put  up  against  the  out¬ 
side  of  the  high  wall  that  surrounds  every  yard, 
the  light  hand  ladder  then  pulled  up  and  let  down 
on  the  inside  of  the  wall,  a  cautious  unlocking  of 
the  wooden  bolt  of  the  yard  gate  and  leaving  it 
opened,  ready  for  a  quick  and  barefooted  rush 
through  it,  the  tossing,  if  necessary,  of  a  chunk 
of  poisoned  meat  to  the  yard  dog,  and  then  the 
swift  and  comparatively  noiseless  hole  opening 
into  the  house  wall.  To  the  uninitiated  it  is  amaz¬ 
ing  how  small  a  hole  will  suffice  through  which 
to  pull  even  a  donkey  and  still  make  a  safe  get¬ 
away.  I  was  staying  one  night  next  door  to  a 
house  so  entered,  and  the  good  man  of  the  house, 
hearing  and  understanding  the  dull  sound  of 
working  through  his  wall,  got  up,  grabbed  his 
heavy  iron  grub  hoe,  and,  as  the  head  of  the  in¬ 
truder  was  cautiously  stuck  through  the  hole,  he 
brained  it. 


150 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


The  deacon ’s  first  impulse  had  been  to  rnsh  off 
to  the  county  seat,  the  nearby  walled  city,  where 
was  the  yamen  of  the  magistrate,  “father  and 
mother  of  the  people, ”  how  ironical  is  that 
euphemism  only  long  residence  among  the  people 
can  suggest.  There  he  might  hope  for  a  chance 
to  present  his  case  without  paying  out  too  much 
“entrance  money,”  yet  his  experience  told  him 
that  it  was  improbable  that  the  thief  would  be 
nabbed  (for  he  was  “in  snooks”  with  the  sup¬ 
posed  agents  of  justice),  and,  even  if  he  were  ever 
hauled  into  the  yamen ,  the  over-officials  and  the 
underlings  and  the  hangers-on,  the  henchmen 
(often  hundreds  in  number)  would  “squeeze”  a 
large  proportion  of  the  original  sum  before  the 
unlikely  event  of  returning  a  part  to  the  owner. 

The  Christians  of  Deacon  Liu’s  household,  how¬ 
ever,  distractedly  urged  the  yamen  course,  on  the 
faint  hope  of  “half  a  loaf  better  than  none.” 
But,  instead,  the  deacon  had  hurried  to  us,  a 
group  of  praying  men  and  women,  for  comfort 
and  aid. 

None  could  doubt  him.  He  was  a  tried  col¬ 
lector  and  a  carrier  of  church  moneys  of  many 
years’  standing,  faithful  as  the  daylight.  Never¬ 
theless,  consternation  reigned  on  the  faces  of  all, 
all  except  Elder  Tu.  Now,  Elder  Tu,  though  so 
different  from  Paul,  in  education,  race,  natural 
ability  and  accomplishments,  often  reminded  me 


Praying  Back  Stolen  Money 


151 


of  that  great  saint.  Elder  Tu  was  short  of  stature 
and  slight  of  frame,  his  features  thin  but  suffused 
with  kindliness.  He  was  a  prosperous  business 
man  who  honored  the  Lord  and  the  Lord  honored 
him.  In  his  long  brocaded  silk  gown,  his  feet 
dainty  and  well  shod,  his  fingers  slender  and  deli¬ 
cate,  he  hardly  looked  the  man  of  iron  will.  But 
he  was.  Smiling  and  winsome,  yielding  in  non- 
essentials,  but  not  opening  his  business  doors  on 
Sunday,  filled  with  zeal  for  Christ,  and  always 
bearing  the  care  of  the  churches  daily  with  him, 
he  was  a  leader  to  tie  to,  a  man  of  God,  an  inter¬ 
cessor  of  power,  in  faith  as  simple  as  a  child.  He 
was  hardheaded,  and,  experienced  of  life,  stood 
on  his  own  legs,  had  Scripture  principles  of  con¬ 
duct,  and  trusted  the  Lord  directly,  not  through 
the  medium  of  a  foreign  missionary. 

I  could  see  that,  while  he  was  concerned  and 
looked  grave  and  sympathetic,  he  was  not  scared. 
Some  of  our  group  at  that  time  reminded  me  of 
a  hen  flopping  with  her  head  off,  but  not  he. 

Elder  Tu  illustrated  in  his  life  and  conduct, 
almost  as  well  as  any  individual  I  know,  that 
state  which  Paul  describes  in  Philippians  4:5,  in 
which  he  exhorts  his  Christian  friends  to  let  their 
moderation  be  known  unto  all  men.  If  that 
“moderation”  means  all  the  riches  suggested  in 
the  Greek  of  balminess,  of  the  yieldingness  of 
selflessness  in  non-essentials,  of  sweet  reason- 


152 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


ableness,  of  mellowness  of  character,  of  spiritual 
poise  and  self-possession,  then  Elder  Tu  dis¬ 
played  ‘ ‘moderation’ ’  in  this  crisis. 

That  very  morning  we  had  studied  together 
Isaiah  26:3.  “Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect 
peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  thee,  because  he 
trusteth  in  thee'.”  This  idea  had  sunk  into  him; 
rather,  he  had  anew  responded  to  it,  as  he  had 
many  times  before  in  circumstances’  of  perplexity 
and  danger.  Heathenism  is  an  awful  hell  of 
worry  and  cussedness  all  the  time  anyway,  and 
it  is  always  troubling  everybody  upon  whom  it 
infringes.  Elder  Tu  did  not  hope  to  escape  out 
of  it,  but  he*  knew  he’  had  a*  refuge  in  the  midst 
of  it. 

At  this  juncture  he  spoke.  “Shepherd  Scott 
has  to  go  on  to  his  appointments.  He  cannot 
linger  with  us.  He  has  his  Holy  Communion 
dates  all  set  for  his  itinerary,  and  these  are  the 
most  sacred  of  all  engagements.  The  candidates 
will  be  at  each  place  at  the  time  appointed,  to  be 
examined,  and  the  Christians  will  be  there  to  par¬ 
take  with  him  of  the  Lord’s  Supper.  He  cannot 
turn  aside  to  manage  this  affair.  But  he  can  pray 
as  he  journeys,  and  we  will  give  ourselves  to 
prayer  here.  This  kind  cometh  not  out  but  by 
prayer  and  fasting.” 

So  we  parted.  Elder  Tu  went  back  to  the  vil¬ 
lage  where  he  was  a  guest,  betook  himself  to  his 


Praying  Back  Stolen  Money 


153 


Bible,  to  meditation  and  prayer,  to  praise  and  to 
intercession.  Thus  he  prayed  for  three  days. 
Early  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  as  he  was 
praying,  just  as  the  dawn  was  stealing  over  the 
earth,  he  heard  a  shout  outside  the  yard  wall  and 
a  slight  rattle,  as  if  a  light  package  had  dropped 
in  the  yard.  Going  to  the  door,  he  saw  a  paper 
roll  before  him  at  his  feet.  Picking  it  up,  he 
noticed  writing  tied  to  it.  It  read  as  follows :  4  ‘  I 
could  not  keep  it.”  Inside  was  the  roll  of  German 
bills,  intact . 


CHAPTER  XIV 

RESCUE  FROM  ROBBER  VIOLENCE 

It  happened  on  the  20th  of  February,  1917.  We 
were  holding  special  revival  services  and  the  men 
who  had  been  rescued  from  imminent  death,  from 
excruciating  torture,  were  present  with  us  along 
with  those  through  whose  intercession  the  rescue 
took  place.  All  bore  witness  to  the  grace  of  God 
in  answer  to  believing  prayer. 

The  country  throughout  my  field  had  for 
months  been  terrorized  with  various  kinds  of 
roughs  perpetrating  unimaginable  outrages  upon 
the  country  folk  who  dwell  in  the  villages.  There 
had  been  the  regulation  robbers  who  swoop  down 
from  the  hills  and  mountains  upon  the  people; 
there  had  been  disbanded  soldiers,  hungry  and 
desperate,  who  have  raided  the  villages,  and  there 
had  been  others  brought  inland  from  without, 
cynically  organized  by  6  ‘  certain  foreigners  ’  ’  from 
sinister  motives  and  for  far-reaching  political 
purposes.  These,  often  led  by  men  of  another 
nationality,  had  kidnapped  the  people  and  para¬ 
lyzed  the  local  governments  so  that  there  might 
be  reasons  apparent  to  the  world  why  interfer- 

154 


Kescue  from  Kobber  Violence 


155 


ence  by  outsiders  is  necessary.  The  last-named 
class  are  called  the  “Pang  Piao  Ti”  (i.  e.,  those 
who  seize  and  bind  and  carry  off  for  ransom  in 
paper  bills).  They  wanted  paper  money,  prefer¬ 
ably  of  the  Japanese  government,  the  use  of  which 
money  had  been  forced  along  the  Japanese-man¬ 
aged  German  railway  running  the  length  of  Shan¬ 
tung  Province.  It  was  light  to  carry,  so  large 
sums  could  easily  be  made  away  with.  More, 
they  wanted  it  quick,  “A  Whirlwind  Campaign, ” 
the  equivalent,  so  to  speak,  as  it  were,  of  the 
speedy  method  of  money  raising  for  which 
America  is  famed. 

A  company  of  these  men  dressed  in  particularly 
neat  soldiers’  uniforms  with  bayoneted  rifles  and 
belted  revolvers  appeared  at  sunset  one  winter 
day  on  the  street  of  the  village  of  Da  Shi  Kiao. 
They  asked  for  the  headman  of  the  village.  They 
demanded  him  at  once  as  hostage,  also  that  rooms 
immediately  be  placed  at  their  disposal  for  the 
night.  They  asserted  that  they  had  public  busi¬ 
ness  of  importance  to  perform,  and  that  it  con¬ 
cerned  everybody  in  the  village.  It  certainly  did ! 

Fortunately  for  him  the  headman  of  the  village 
was  not  at  home.  In  lieu  of  him  they  asked  for 
and  seized  a  silversmith,  Mr.  Li,  nabbed  him  just 
outside  the  door  of  his  own  yard  as  he  came  forth 
to  see  what  the  noise  without  upon  the  street  be¬ 
tokened.  A  silversmith  in  a  Chinese  village  is  as 


156 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


apt  to  have  ready  money,  or  that  which  can  he 
converted  into  it,  as  anyone  else,  so,  as  the  most 
likely  victim  to  produce  immediate  returns,  and 
in  order  to  terrorize  all  the  others,  his  arms  were 
pinioned,  his  feet  tightly  fastened,  and  he  was 
taken  into  his  own  yard  and  stripped  to  the  waist. 
They  were  preparing  to  hold  his  naked  stomach 
over  the  fire  they  had  kindled.  Such  energetic 
money  requests  are  apt  to  be  heeded  and  the  man 
begged,  1  ‘  Oh,  I  will  give  you  anything  I  have,  but 
I  swear  I  have  no  gold,  only  silver  and  copper 
coin  in  my  chest,  also  my  clothing!  Take  it  all, 
if  you  will  spare  me !  ’  *  They  had  unbound  him, 
expecting  that  he  would  find  a  goodly  sum  of 
money  for  them,  but  in  iron-hearted  stolidness 
they  refused  his  plea  for  release.  “We  want 
bills;  we  demand  big  paper  money.  You  must 
produce  it!” 

The  sun  had  now  set.  Against  the  black  of  the 
sky  the  fire  which  they  had  kindled,  by  a  vigorous 
use  of  kerosene  from  a  newly  purchased  Standard 
Oil  tin,  flared  up  so  as  to  be  discernible  in  the 
nearby  villages.  It  must  be  remembered  that  in 
the  thickly  populated  sections  of  our  field  villages 
are  often  only  a  few  rods  apart. 

The  victim  was  promptly  rebound.  This  time, 
he  asserts,  his  tormentors  used  cord,  larger  than 
that  with  which  he  was  at  first  bound,  and  hung 
him  over  a  bar  between  two  posts  to  which  his 


Rescue  erom  Robber  Violence 


157 


work  animal  was  usually  tied.  Then  oil  was 
brought  and  dashed  upon  his  clothes  so  that, 
soaked  in  them,  he  should  burn  alive,  a  human 
torch  analagous  to  the  kind  that  used  to  amuse 
Nero. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  noise  outside  the  gate,  a 
great  pounding  and  a  discharge  of  guns.  As  the 
robbers*  prepared  their  defense  they  were,  for  a 
moment,  diverted  from  their  victim.  In  the  mid¬ 
dle  of  this  din  the  rope  binding  Mr.  Li  broke,  to 
his  great  amazement.  Stiff  as  he  was,  and  cold 
and  soaked  in  the  oil,  he  fled  to  another  part  of 
the  yard  and  jumped  into  a  deep  hole  in  the 
ground,  which  hole  shall  be  nameless. 

The  robbers  by  this  time  were  so  engaged  with 
the  visitors  from  outside  that  they  dared  not  pay 
any  attention  to  him.  These  visitors  were  neigh¬ 
bors  and  relatives  from  a  very  nearby  village, 
Tung  Liu  Kou  Tze,  to  whom,  on  the  appearing 
of  the  robbers  at  sunset,  messengers  had  run. 
As  the  newcomers  began  to  fire  off  their  guns, 
the  robbers  shot  two  of  the  rescuers,  who  were 
heathen.  (Significantly,  no  Christians  were 
harmed  in  the  melee.)  With  the  amazing  daring 
which  can  characterize  men  who  are  comrades  in 
a  dangerous  plight,  and  who  are  trained  the 
greater  the  danger  the  closer  to  hang  together, 
they  each  seized  a  villager  by  his  girdle  and 
swung  him-  around  between  him  and  the  crowd 


158 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


of  outraged  assailants.  Thus,  going  rapidly  back¬ 
ward,  each  soldier  held  his  revolver  at  fire,  and, 
using  friends  and  neighbors  of  the  attackers  as 
living  shields,  disappeared  in  the  darkness  and 
made  their  escape. 

Now  the  prayer  power  of  this  story  is  made 
manifest  in  the  following.  The  as  yet  not  bap¬ 
tized  believer,  Mr.  Kwoa  Kin  Sheng,  was  a  rela¬ 
tive  of  the  silversmith  and  was  intending  the  very 
day  of  this  terrible  experience  to  visit  the  silver¬ 
smith  and  abide  with  him  several  days.  He  was 
also  carrying  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  He 
expected  to  talk  with  his  heathen  relative  about 
the  Christ  whom  he  himself  had  so  recently  ac¬ 
cepted,  and  in  thankfulness  for  learning  of  Christ 
he  had  already  given  a  thank  offering  of  fifteen 
dollars  to  God.  With  joy  he  anticipated  telling 
the  silversmith  the  glad  news. 

Elder  Tu  and  Deacon  Liu  also  had  planned 
that  very  day  to  meet  Kwoa  Kin  Sheng  at  the 
home  of  the  silversmith  and  there  receive  from 
Mr.  Kwoa  his  regular  subscription  in  addition  to 
the  thank  offering  for  the  native  pastor’s  salary. 
But  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  these  two  office¬ 
bearers  had  arrived  at  a  nearby  station,  they  un¬ 
expectedly  felt  constrained  not  to  go  on.  They 
decided  to  remain  in  that  village,  have  worship 
with  the  Christians  there,  and  together  to  join 
in  prayer  for  these  two  men,  Kwoa  Kin  Sheng 


Rescue  from  Robber  Violence 


159 


and  his  heathen  silversmith  relative.  Particularly 
were  they  led  to  pray  earnestly  for  Kwoa’s  rela¬ 
tive,  that  no  harm  would  come  to  him.  They  in¬ 
tended  on  the  following  day  to  resume  their  jour¬ 
ney,  and  at  the  home  of  the  silversmith  to  meet 
and  encourage  both  men  in  the  Jesus  Doctrine. 

Arrived  the  next  morning  at  the  silversmith’s 
village,  they  were  filled  with  amazement  at  the 
manner*  in  which  their  prayer  had  been  answered. 
Mr.  Kwoa*  had  not  arrived  at  all  as  he  planned 
and  so  had  escaped  outrage,  robbery  and  violence. 
The  silversmith  had  been  rescued  from  a  horrible 
fate,  and  they  themselves,  still  carrying  the  money 
subscribed  by  the  Christians  for  their  pastor,  had 
also  been  saved  the  probability  of  robbery  and 
the  possibility  of  such  a  death  as  was  narrated 
to  them.  Needless  to  say,  the  silversmith  and  Mr. 
Kwoa  were  filled  with  thankfulness  beyond  words 
and  Mr.  Li  began  then  and  there  to  study  the  doc¬ 
trine  in  earnest,  and  Mr.  Kwoa  did  what  is  so 
common  in  heathen  lands,  namely,  added  another 
thank  offering,  in  this  case  double  the  previous 
one,  to  the  God  of  grace  who  had  saved  him.  The 
heathen  religion  and  temple  systems  are  such  that 
this  method  of  expressing  thanks  for  recoveries 
from  illness  or  danger,  or  experience  of  unusual 
good  fortune,  is  the  ordinary  method  in  which  to 
manifest  gratitude  to  the  deities  concerned. 

That  very  day  the  yard  of  Li,  the  silversmith, 


160 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


was  packed  with  his  relatives  and  friends  to  hear 
Elder  Tu  preach  on  the  ineffable  goodness  of 
“The  Living  and  the  True  God.”  He  took  as  his 
text  the  thrilling  words  of  Isaiah  43:2:  “When 
thou  walkest  through  the  fire  thou  shalt  not  be 
burned,  neither  shall  the  flame  kindle  upon  thee. 9 9 

And  that  very  day  we  have  reason  to  believe 
that  several  men,  whom  with  their  families  I  later 
baptized,  were  “born  from  above.” 


CHAPTER  XV 

A  NEFARIOUS  PLOT  FOILED 


In  a  village  nearest  to  this  hill  of  ill  fame,  on 
the  top  of  which  had  been  set  the  Temple  of  the 
Serpent  Demon,  resides  one  Christian  family,  the 
father  of  whom,  along  with  Li  the  radiant,  was 
made  an  elder  in  the  newly  organized  church,  and, 
since  his  elevation  to  that  office,  his  tribulations 
have  been  numerous  and  varied.  It  was  as  if 
Satan  were  pursuing  the  policy  of  frightfulness, 
attempting  to  break  the  spirit  of  his  enemies  by 
outrage  piled  upon  outrage.  The  climax  came  in 
the  following  manner :  This  elder  has  a  younger 
brother  with  whom  he  many  years*  ago  divided 
the  paternal  inheritance,  so  that  each  had  his  own 
land  and  house  and  yard.  After  that  act  they 
no  longer  counted  as  one  family,  and  therefore 
each  family  was,  according  to  Chinese  law,  not 
responsible  for  the  acts  of  the  other. 

This  fall,  when  the  newly  elected  elder  returned 
from  presbytery  to  his  village,  he  was  greeted 
with  the  astounding  news  that  a  decision  had  gone 
forth  that  his  brother  was  to  be  banished  for  life 
to  Mongolia  (a  form  of  punishment  which  for 

161 


162 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


hundreds  of  years  in  China  has  been  inflicted  only 
for  manslaughter),  and  he  was  to  produce  within 
a  few  days  a  sum  of  money  which  would  necessi¬ 
tate  selling  his  house  and  land,  thus  reducing  him 
to  beggary.  How  did  it  come  about? 

The  calf  of  a  rich  heathen,  rich  according  to 
Chinese  village  standards,  had  wandered  into  the 
yard  of  the  elder  ’s  brother  and  had  begun  to  eat 
his  cabbages.  The  brother  noticed  the  intruder 
and,  angered,  threw  a  rock,  hitting  and  killing  the 
animal.  He  should  have  called  in  the  village 
headmen  and  let  them  see  what  had  happened, 
apologized  for  his  burst  of  temper,  and  pledged 
to  pay  the  price  of  the  calf  he  had  killed.  Instead 
he  made  haste  to  haul  it  into  his  house, 
slaughtered  it,  hid  it,  and  began  to  eat  its  flesh. 

The  rich  man  at  once  set  about  ferreting  out 
the  loss  of  his  property,  but,  in  characteristic 
heathen  fashion,  did  not  announce  that  his  calf 
had  disappeared,  rather  that  a  girl  slave  had  been 
stolen,  and,  this  being  a  loss  of  sufficient  conse¬ 
quence,  he  could,  by  Chinese  custom,  institute  a 
careful  search  in  each  home  of  the  village  for  his 
human  property.  The  slave  girl  was  really  locked 
up  in  “ Dives’ ”  house  while  the  fake  search  for 
her  was  being  made.  Going  carefully  through  the 
house  of  the  elder’s  brother,  the  calf  meat  was 
found  hidden  away  in  a  stone  crock  under  ma¬ 
terials  piled  upon  it.  Thereupon  the  rich  man 


A  Xefaeiotts  Plot  Foiled 


163 


accused  the  foolish  man  of  having  stolen  also  the 
mother  of  this  calf! 

Xow,  during  the  spring  of  this  year,  the  mother 
of  this  calf  really  had  disappeared,  bnt  in  con¬ 
nection  with  another  episode.  4  4  Dives  ”  has  a 
very  bad  wife  who,  as  well  as  himself,  is  an  opinm 
smoker.  The  husband,  refusing  her  the  money 
desired  for  indulgence  in  an  opium  debauch,  she 
had  arranged  for  4  4  certain  lewd  fellows  of  the 
baser  sort  to  steal  the  cow  and  sell  it  to  butchers, 
who.  in  China,  are  as  a  class  usually  catalogued 
not  far  below  manslaughterers.  TTith  the  profits 
of  that  sale  these  men  and  the  wife,  while  her 
lord  was  away,  had  gone  on  a  big  spree.  All  this 
was  perfectly  known  not  only  to  the  rich  man  and 
his  family,  but  to  the  village  public  generally,  in¬ 
cluding  the  accused. 

The  only  explanation  of  such  a  situation  is  that 
this  is  heathenism,  heathenism  being  a  state  in 
which  God  *s  laws  of  justice  and  righteous  dealing, 
if  known,  are  willfully  ignored,  and  as  a  result 
of  that  willful  ignoring  men  are  palsied  to  do 
righteousness.  This  is  the  normal  course  of 
heathen  life,  and  is  therefore  what  makes  it  so 
odious  in  God’s  sight.  It  is  this  attitude  of 
heathenism,  its  remorseless  grinding  of  the  poor 
and  weak,  that  throws  meaningful  light  flashes 
upon  many  a  prophetic  invective  of  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment.  Heathenism  is  little  concerned  with  jus- 


164 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


tice,  therefore  it  easily  trumps  up  “ reasons” 
for  its  doings,  however  unreasonable.  These  give 
it  “face,”  “something  to  talk  to,”  and  that  is 
sufficient.  No  wonder  Lot  was  “vexed  with  the 
filthy  conversation  (manner  of  life)  of  the 
wicked,”  and  “his  righteous  soul  from  day  to 
day  with  their  unlawful  deeds.”  Heathenism  is 
full  of  these  “natural  animals  without  reason” 
(2  Peter  2 :12)  who  are  busy  in  ungodliness  enact¬ 
ing  ungodly  deeds  and  making  “hard  speeches” 
against  the  Lord  (Jude  15).  That  is  the  only 
explanation,  its  irrationality,  the  reason  why 
“Dives”  could  with  good  face,  in  view  of  the 
facts,  charge  the  disappearance  of  his  cow  and 
slave  to  the  calf-killer. 

In  order  to  clothe  his  cruel  charges  with  the 
cloak  of  legality,  “Dives”  invited  the  village 
headmen,  eight  of  them,  to  a  wine  feast  at  which 
there  was  the  added  luxury  of  opium.  “Whose 
rice  we  eat,  his  friends  we  are.”  Thereby  the 
headmen  were  obligated  to  “Dives”;  indeed,  were 
bound  to  further  his  wishes.  No  words  were 
necessary ;  money  talks ! 

Just  previous  to  the  feast,  not  earlier,  “Dives” 
had  had  his  slave  girl  removed  to  another  village. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  feast  he  opened  up  the 
subject  of  the  condemnation  of  the  calf-killer. 
Stirred  to  unwonted  eloquence  by  a  full  measure 
of  wine,  he  expatiated  on  how  his  victim  had  slain 


A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled 


165 


and  eaten  his  calf,  stolen  and  sold  its  mother,  and 
now  carried  off  his  slave  girl  for  ransom!  They 
knew  this  was  a  lie.  But  the  loosened  tongue  ran 
on  glibly!  4 ‘What  will  you  do  with  evidence  of 
heinousness  piled  mountain  high!”  The  upshot 
was  that,  like  Herod,  wine-befuddled  and  moral 
coward  before  Herodia0/  daughter,  they  too  ren¬ 
dered  a  decision  both  foolish  and  cruel,  banish¬ 
ment  for  the  calf-killer ;  for  his  brother,  the  Chris¬ 
tian  elder,  restitution  money  for  calf,  cow  and 
slave  to  an  amount  that  would  require  the  sale 
of  all  he  possessed.  If  the  elder  would  not  comply 
with  these  conditions  without  the  case  being  en¬ 
tered  in  the  yamen,  then  “Dives”  would,  a  week 
after  his  ultimatum  was  pronounced,  take  the  case 
to  the  magistrate.  In  the  opinion  of  all  concerned 
it  would  go  utterly  against  the  Christian  elder, 
for  the  people  expect  a  case  to  be  won  in  a  Chinese 
yamen  only  as  a  man  has  more  money  than  his 
opponent.  A  common  proverb  among  the  Chinese 
is:  “He  who  has  reason  without  money  ( i .  e 
bribe  money)  should  stay  away  from  the  yamen. 
He  who  has  money  without  reason  may  expect¬ 
antly  approach  its  south  portals.”  Assuredly  the 
elder  had  no  money  to  invest  in  such  an  enter¬ 
prise,  and  his  enemies  knew  it.  They  chuckled, 
“What  a  stinging  rebuke  to  the  interloping  for¬ 
eign  religion  was  in  sight!  And  what  a  fine  re¬ 
venge  on  its  renegade  adherent!”  (It  will  de- 


166 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


velop  later  how  the  headmen  repictured  the  whole 
scene  for  us.) 

It  was  while  I  was  out  in  the  country,  teaching 
with  a  beloved  fellow  pastor,  the  Rev.  Chao,  in  a 
mid-winter  Bible  class  of  some  sixty  men,  dele¬ 
gates  from  eighteen  churches,  that  an  evangelist 
arrived  suddenly  on  the  scene,  related  this  nefari¬ 
ous  plot,  and  urged  me  to  proceed  at  once  to  the 
scene  of  action.  The  week  within  which  the  judg¬ 
ment  was  to  fall  had  already  elapsed.  Therefore 
the  reason  for  the  evangelist’s  hasty  trip.  How 
could  I  leave  those  picked  men  there  for  study? 
But  on  consultation  all  felt  that  I  ought  to  go, 
and  one  of  our  ablest  leaders  volunteered  to  teach 
for  me  during  my  absence.  I  wTas  the  more  en¬ 
couraged  to  go  because  the  entire  company 
pledged  themselves  to  begin  to  pray  at  once  and 
to  pray  continuously  on  the  case.  We  were  all 
especially  anxious  to  see  the  elder  vindicated,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  sore  trials  through  which  we  knew 
he  had  passed  in  witnessing  for  Christ,  and  be¬ 
cause  this  flaunting  injustice  and  overbearing  con¬ 
temptuousness  expressed  toward  him  by  the  sup¬ 
posedly  all-powerful  heathen  mogul  of  the  village 
was  too  outrageous ! 

Moreover,  I  was  interested  to  see  this  case 
peaceably  settled  outside  the  yamen  (as  other 
cases  in  my  pastoral  experience  had  been  gratify- 
ingly  settled),  because  of  the  habit  of  weak  Chris- 


A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled 


167 


tians  trusting  in  the  foreign  shepherd,  and  be¬ 
cause  of  their  tendency,  in  persecution,  to  run  to 
him  with  the  thought  that  he,  being  a  foreigner, 
has  both  the  power  and  the  will  to  help  them  when 
sued  through  the  yamen,  just  as  the  German  and 
Austrian  Catholic  priests  do.  Particularly  is  this 
impression  abroad  with  regard  to  the  Americans 
in  China,  due  possibly  to  the  many  generous  proofs 
of  friendship  that  Americans  have  displayed  in 
times  of  flood,  famine  and  pestilence,  and  also  to 
those  manifested  by  the  American  government  in 
its  remarkable  record  of  refusal  to  join  in  schemes 
of  aggrandizement  at  China’s  expense,  as  well  as 
its  enlistment  of  the  great  powers  in  constructive 
plans  to  preserve  China’s  integrity.  And  this 
enviable  reputation  of  Americans  is  everywhere 
in  China  among  the  officials  no  less  than  among 
the  flocks  of  the  missionary  pastors. 

On  the  very  day  of  the  arrival  of  this  mes¬ 
senger  we  in  the  class  were  studying  the  sixth 
chapter  of  First  Corinthians, where  Paul  expounds 
the  Christian  theory  of  law-suiting,  a  chapter  and 
a  principle  that  I  have  never  heard  mentioned  in 
the  home  land,  but  vital  here,  throbbing  with  in¬ 
terest.  Point  was  given  to  the  passage  involved 
by  the  fact  that  one  of  our  Chinese  pastors  with¬ 
out  judgment  and  in  foolhardiness  had  just  for¬ 
warded  to  a  magistrate  a  demand  that  he  release 
the  heathen  son  of  a  Christian  whom  his  hench- 


168 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


men  had  recently  seized  at  his  command  for  some 
irregularity.  Messenger  after  messenger  had 
been  dispatched  to  me  with  the  urgent  request  to 
put  my  card  into  the  letter  which  the  Chinese 
pastor  was  forwarding  to  the  county  official,  this 
to  give  the  pastor  “face,”  and  on  my  refusal  the 
final  letter-bearer  (who  was  the  son  of  the  seized 
man)  hung  around  with  his  sympathizers  for 
three  days,  pleading,  weeping  and  working  upon 
the  feelings  of  the  class.  The  principle  of  leaning 
directly  upon  Ood  in  time  of  trial  and  not  upon 
the  foreign  shepherd  was  in  great  need  of  vindi¬ 
cation  then  and  there,  not  only  to  strengthen  the 
faith  of  the  hard-pushed  elder,  but  to  set  an  ex¬ 
ample  to  all  these  church  representatives  gath¬ 
ered  there  in  Bible  study,  as  to  how  they  ought 
to  look  at  such  matters.  It  was  another  one  of 
those  great  opportunities  of  grace  that  God  con¬ 
tinually  gives  one  out  here. 

The  Lord,  by  his  Spirit,  gave  me  a  keen  zest 
to  go,  in  order  to  put  him  once  more  to  the  test 
in  this  particular  case,  and  in  order  to  vindicate 
himself  in  the  principle  of  prayer  before  the  eyes 
of  these,  his  people.  Particularly  was  I  encour¬ 
aged  to  this  viewpoint  because  several  times  dur¬ 
ing  this  year  I  have  had  the  joy  of  getting  the 
parties  at  variance  in  a  village  together  and  have 
had  them  talk  over  in  a  friendly  manner,  while 
prayer  pressure  from  behind  the  scenes  was 


A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled 


169 


brought  to  bear  to  mold  their  conflicting  views 
into  a  harmony  of  reasonable  settlement  with 
mutual  concession  and  forgiveness.  And  in  each 
case  this  plan  of  praying  it  through  had  succeeded 
to  the  glory  of  God.  I  knew  it  would  now,  if  given 
a  fair  chance. 

So,  by  the  messenger  evangelist  I  sent  a 
friendly  letter  to  the  headmen,  mentioning  the 
date  when  I  would  arrive  at  their  honorable  vil¬ 
lage.  I  made  no  accusations,  but  said  that  the 
affair  in  question  was  important,  that  I  trusted 
they  were  zealous  to  quench  lawlessness  in  their 
midst,  and  assured  them  that  I  would  be  glad  to 
know  them  and  to  be  their  friend. 

Later  I  learned  that  on  receipt  of  this  letter 
they  were  full  of  doubt  and  fear,  their  guilty  souls 
troubling  them  because  of  the  unfairness  with 
which  they  had  acted. 

The  spiritual  tone  of  the  class  during  the  next 
two  days  before  I  left  was  considerably  deepened 
by  the  episode  that  had  occurred  and  the  crisis 
that  was  ahead.  The  members  realized  that  it 
would  be  an  honor  to  our  God  to  keep  the  case 
out  of  the  yamen  and  manage  the  affair  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  teaching  of  Christ.  The  zeal  of  one 
man,  a  village  headman,  a  member  of  the  class 
and  a  new  convert  to  the  faith,  was  so  great  that 
the  afternoon  before  I  was  to  start  he  went  to  his 
nearby  town  and  arranged  for  one  of  his  donkeys 


170 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


(which  I  was  to  ride)  to  arrive  during  the  night; 
and  that  animal,  with  his  brother  as  driver,  slowly 
stumbled  in  through  the  dark,  over  the  stony  road, 
a  distance  of  twenty-five  li,  in  time  for  our  early 
start  about  3  o’clock  the  next  morning. 

Our  prayers  for  good  weather  were  answered 
with  the  gift  of  a  perfect  day — cold,  clean,  wind¬ 
less.  Between  crying  babies,  braying  donkeys, 
men  often  stirring  to  feed  the  animals,  we  did  not 
have  much  sleep  that  night,  and  a  family  party 
of  heathen  passing  our  door  in  the  “wee  sma’ 
hours,”  wailing  over  one  of  the  three  spirits  of 
a  deceased  member,  which  spirit  they  escorted  to 
a  little  temple  outside  the  village  functioning  to 
receive  such  a  spirit,  thus  reduced  still  more  the 
possibility  of  repose. 

When  we  started  off  it  was  too  dark  and  cold 
to  ride  an  animal.  As  the  day  broke  I  mounted 
the  loaned  beast,  only  to  ride  him  a  little  way, 
when  he  “broke  down.”  It  almost  always  seems 
to  be  my  fate,  in  attempts  to  ride  these  animals, 
to  have  them,  as  on  this  day,  give  out  at  a  critical 
point,  so  that  the  harder  and  longer  the  journey, 
the  more  there  usually  is  of  it  to  be  walked. 
Crossing  a  small  stream,  which  was  frozen  over, 
the  animal  did  his  best  to  “get  through”  the  ice, 
and  attained  his  object.  I  landed  finally  in  safety 
on  the  far  side,  but  we  had  considerable  difficulty 
in  pulling  out  the  exhausted  creature.  From  that 


A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled 


171 


point  on  he  lay  down  repeatedly,  and  at  length 
refused  to  budge,  and  I  faced  a  tramp  of  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  ten  li  that  prudence  dictated  should  be 
finished  before  dark  of  that  short  winter  day,  and 
the  best  edge  of  it  had  already  been  wasted  with¬ 
out  getting  very  far. 

The  animal  with  his  driver  turned  back,  and 
our  little  party,  tightening  our  belts,  gritted  our 
teeth  and  settled  down  to  a  day  of  weary  road¬ 
plugging.  My  “boy”  froze  his  foot.  There  was 
no  suitable  inn  along  the  way  in  which  to  warm 
up.  At  noon,  in  the  presence  of  an  unmanageably 
curious  crowd  that  jammed  into  the  inner  yard 
of  a  wretched  little  hut,  I  gnawed  my  cold  lunch, 
part  of  it  frozen  like  lumps  of  ice.  I  tried  not  to 
notice  the  boors  who,  with  gusto  and  loquacious¬ 
ness,  watched  intently  my  disposition  of  my  food. 
For  some  of  us,  this  experience,  when  we  are 
tired,  is  perhaps  the  most  trying  of  all  the  things 
that  the  country  itinerator  faces.  It  is  not  the 
mere  being  stared  at  while  one  eats  that  is  so  apt 
to  get  on  people’s  nerves,  but  all  the  coarse  ac¬ 
companiments  of  it.  The  “becoming  a  spectacle 
for  Christ’s  sake,”  as  Paul  calls  it,  takes  on  flavor 
in  a  heathen  land. 

It  was  dark  long  before  we  reached  our  destina¬ 
tion  and  that  section  of  the  road,  a  road  according 
to  Chinese  standards  only,  was  one  continual  mass 
of  rocks  over  which  my  barrowman  and  donkey 


172 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


strained  and  stumbled  with  difficulty,  while  the 
barrow  squeaked  and  grated  and  bumped  slowly 
and  toilsomely  on.  However,  the  elder  and  the 
evangelist  came  out  some  distance  from  the  vil¬ 
lage  with  lanterns  to  escort  us  in.  That  evening 
was  devoted  to  prayer  for  a  right  outcome  to  the 
business  we  had  come  to  transact.  The  next  day 
was  the  Sabbath  and  the  Christians  of  all  that 
region  gathered  from  the  other  villages  for  wor¬ 
ship  at  the  elder ’s,  ‘ ‘  the  church  in  the  house. 9  9 

The  twelfth  chapter  of  Acts  was  expounded  at 
the  morning  service,  the  account  of  how  Peter 
was  in  prison  and  his  fellow  Christians  sought 
mightily  in  prayer  his  release.  Many  heathen, 
itching  with  curiosity  to  know  what  the  tall  for¬ 
eigner  would  say  and  do,  were  present.  The 
Christians,  though  many  of  them  lived  as  far  as 
twenty  li  away,  stayed  for  the  afternoon  service, 
when  our  minds  dwelt  on  the  wonderful  promise 
of  Philippians  4 :4-7,  the  uselessness  of  worry  and 
the  wisdom  of  rejoicingly  telling  God  our  needs 
and  trusting  him  for  the  outcome.  After  that 
service  I  escorted  Elder  Li  the  radiant  and  other 
out-village  Christians  some  distance  on  their  way 
home,  all  the  time  our  thoughts  and  prayers  be¬ 
ing  on  the  important  meeting  of  the  next  day. 
I  myself  was  particularly  heartened  for  that  con¬ 
test  with  the  devil  by  this  Li,  victor  in  Christ,  who 
was  as  full  of  comforting  Scripture  on  the  subject 


A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled 


173 


as  a  Shantung  walnut  is  full  of  meat.  To  my  de¬ 
light  and  surprise  he  quoted  the  entire  chapter 
that  I  had  read  in  the  afternoon  service,  and,  with 
shining  eyes  and  in  his  own  unique  and  forceful 
way,  expounded  the  verses,  very  much  to  the 
point.  That  was  one  of  the  most  profitable  walks 
I  ever  took — certainly  arranged  of  the  Lord. 

On  my  return  to  the  village  the  place  seemed 
agog  with  excitement.  Little  groups  of  men  were 
gathered  everywhere.  They  were  on  the  tiptoe 
of  expectation  as  to  the  morrow.  As  I  passed 
group  after  group  on  the  main  street,  in  the 
alleys,  at  corners,  I  heard  such  snatches  as  these, 
“They  say  he  is  American,  but  only  Russians 
wear  such  big  coats  and  have  such  black  whiskers ! 
Why,  he  talks  our  talk,  just  like  us !  And  he  un¬ 
derstands  all  we  say!  How  did  he  learn  it?  We 
could  never  say  his  talk.  No  magistrate  would 
speak  to  us,  but  he  does.  What  is  the  foreign 
devil  going  to  do?  Will  he  report  us  to  the  offi¬ 
cials?  They  will  believe  him.  If  he  lies  about 
us  we  will  be  in  a  bad  fix.  He  may  draw  maps 
of  our  land.  He  may  find  out  how  many  sons  we 
have.  Is  he  going  to  spy  on  us?  Ho  you  think 
he  intends  to  threaten  us  or  harm  us?”  It  was 
a  good  deal  more  than  amusing,  revealing  as  it 
did  their  curiosity  mingled  with  doubts,  suspicion 
and  fear.  An  extra  twist  was  now  given  to  the 
excitement  because  of  what  happened  in  the  home 


174 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


of  an  inquirer  who  had  loaned  us  a  room  for  our 
newly  established  mission  primary  school,  and 
who  had  been  persecuted  for  his  pains.  That 
evening  his  grandmother  suddenly  died  and  the 
heathen  on  the  street  said,  “This  assuredly  is  a 
proof  of  the  curse  upon  this  foreign  doctrine  and 
a  portent  of  more  ill  to  come  upon  us  as  a  result 
of  the  coming  of  the  ‘ foreign  deviP!”  And  that 
evening  a  little  group  of  us  was  stirred  to  more 
earnest  prayer  as  we  realized  the  tight  ahead  of 
us.  We  claimed  the  promises  of  Psalm  62:5-12, 
1  Corinthians  10 :13  and  Romans  8 :28 : 

“My  soul,  wait  thou  only  upon  God,  for  my  ex¬ 
pectation  is  from  him.  He  only  is  my  rock  and  my 
salvation;  he  is  my  defense;  I  shall  not  be  moved. 

In  God  is  my  salvation  and  my  glory:  the  rock  of 
my  strength,  and  my  refuge,  is  in  God.  Trust  in  him 
at  all  times;  ye  people,  pour  out  your  heart  before 
him;  God  is  a  refuge  for  us.  Surely  men  of  low 
degree  are  vanity,  and  men  of  high  degree  are  a  lie: 
to  be  laid  in  the  balance,  they  are  altogether  lighter 
than  vanity.  Trust  not  in  oppression,  and  become 
not  vain  in  robbery:  if  riches  increase,  set  not  your 
heart  upon  them.  God  hath  spoken  once;  twice  have 
I  heard  this;  that  power  belongeth  unto  God.  Also 
unto  thee,  0  Lord,  belongeth  mercy:  for  thou  render- 
est  to  every  man  according  to  his  work.” 

“There  hath  no  temptation  taken  you  but  such  as 
is  common  to  man:  but  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not 
suffer  you  to  be  tempted  above  that  ye  are  able; 
but  will  with  the  temptation  also  make  a  way  to 
escape,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  bear  it.” 


A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled 


175 


“And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for 
good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are  the 
called  according  to  his  purpose/’ 


/ 

Early  Monday  morning  we  met  for  another 
season  of  united  prayer.  Luke  6:20-28  was  con¬ 
sidered,  with  special  emphasis  upon  verse  22: 

“Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  hate  you,  and 
when  they  shall  separate  you  from  their  company, 
and  shall  reproach  you,  and  cast  out  your  name  as 
evil,  for  the  Son  of  Man’s  sake.” 

This  was  precisely  the  condition  in  which  the 
elder  found  himself.  Though  an  unobtrusive  man 
and  of  few  words  he  was  led  to  give  testimony 
in  the  language  of  Colossians  3:17,  “And  what¬ 
soever  ye  do  in  word  or  in  deed,  do  all  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God 
the  Father  through  him,”  at  the  same  time  he 
exhorted  us  as  well  as  himself  to  pray  for  polite¬ 
ness  and  kept  tempers  under  possibly  great  prov¬ 
ocation  in  the  meeting  with  the  headmen. 

The  Chinese  are  fond  of  ceremony  and  espe¬ 
cially  of  “managing  public  affairs”  in  a  formal 
way.  The  evangelist  had  worked  out  an  elaborate 
program  for  our  conference  with  the  eight  village 
dignitaries,  including  our  going  out  to  meet  them, 
receiving  them,  ushering  them  into  my  sleeping 
room,  which  room,  by  the  way,  was  just  an  ordi- 


176 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


nary  mud- walled,  dirt-floored,  catch-all  of  a  place 
cluttered  with  boards  and  farm  implements  and 
a  miscellany  of  junk.  By  putting  together  two 
square  tables  we  made  a  council  board  of  state 
and  by  placing  benches  around  them  we  trans¬ 
formed  my  quarters  into  a  reception  salon  fully 
equipped  for  business  with  the  awaited  ambassa¬ 
dors.  They  had  agreed  to  arrive  at  eight  a.  m. 
Later  than  that  hour  messengers  began  to  drop 
in  with  the  assuring  announcement  that  they 
probably  would  not  come.  We  sent  back  others 
in  return,  urging  them  to  stick  to  their  promise 
and  praying  earnestly  all  the  time.  Following 
several  exchanges  of  diplomatic  notes  they  finally 
arrived  at  11  a.  m. 

They  drew  up  in  the  little  yard  and  after  bow¬ 
ing  formally  were  escorted  into  the  guest  room, 
where  they  were  introduced  to  us  by  our  local 
school  teacher.  I  was  pleased  that  even  in  deal¬ 
ing  with  these  heathen  moguls  our  Christians 
were  not  abashed  and  planned  as  a  matter  of 
course  to  honor  their  Lord.  The  Scripture  was 
read,  a  number  of  passages  selected  from  First 
Corinthians,  beginning  with  “Be  ye  all  of  one 
mind,”  and  prayer  was  offered.  The  result  was 
that  from  the  beginning  they  seemed  to  be  put 
at  ease  and  free.  A  constant  flow  of  tea  and  the 
eating  of  a  generous  supply  of  peanuts  also  con¬ 
tributed  something. 


A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled 


177 


The  ice  broken,  their  tongues  were  loosed  to 
speak  their  mind  on  the  subject  of  our  confer¬ 
ence,  after  which  the  elder  stated  his  case.  In 
opening  the  discussion  they  brazenly  rehearsed 
the  whole  case  as  they  had  decided  it.  Then,  as 
if  guided  by  some  unseen  hand,  one  of  the  head¬ 
men  abruptly  asked  if  we  knew  Dr.  Bergen.  (Dr. 
Bergen  was  the  American  missionary  who  opened 
this  station  soon  after  a  German  cruiser  squad¬ 
ron,  under  Prinz  Heinrich,  hungry  for  new 
crumbs  of  colonies,  steamed  into  Tsingtao,  and 
seized  this  end  of  Shantung  Province,  and  his 
name  is  held  in  veneration  among  many  Chinese  in 
this  section).  I  told  him  how,  while  home  on  fur¬ 
lough  in  1914,  I  had  visited  Dr.  Bergen  in  a  hos¬ 
pital  in  New  York,  where  he  was  dying  from  a 
disease  which  was  the  result  of  his  having  insuffi¬ 
cient  blood,  and  how  his  own  son  had  voluntarily 
given  of  his  own  blood  to  be  put  into  the  veins  of 
his  father  in  an  effort  to  prolong  the  father ’s  life. 
This  excited  the  keenest  interest  of  these  Con- 
fucianists.  Their  lore  abounds  with  stories  of 
filial  acts  of  children  toward  their  parents  (many 
of  them  grotesque  and  ridiculous,  such  as  a  son, 
during  mosquito  season,  laying  himself  sacri- 
ficially  on  the  hang  and  letting  the  mosquitoes 
gorge  on  his  blood  so  that  the  father,  unmolested, 
might  compose  himself  for  a  peaceful  night’s 
sleep  upon  the  same  hang).  But  they  had  never 


178 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


heard  of  a  bona  fide  case  in  which  one  man  showed 
such  love  for  another  as  that  of  the  missionary’s 
son  who  had  given  his  blood  for  his  father.  Now 
they  were  all  admiration,  commendation,  and  on 
the  qni  vive.  This  opened  the  way  to  preach  to 
them  with  impressiveness  about  the  Son  of  God 
giving  not  only  a  little  of  his  blood,  but  all  of  it, 
for  the  life  of  us  men  here  in  China,  and  all  of  it 
available  for  any  who  wished  to  be  healed  of  his 
soul-sickness.  Then  was  asked  again  that  ques¬ 
tion  that  has  been  put  to  me  several  times  when 
engaged  in  preaching  on  the  street  and  “at  the 
market,”  an  unconventional,  almost  uncanny 
query:  “How  long  has  Christ’s  blood  been  flow¬ 
ing?  How  much  blood  has  he?  Is  it  enough  to 
fill  and  cleanse  our  veins?”  I  think  it  was  no 
captious  questioning,  though  from  one  angle  it 
was  bizarre  and  grotesque  and  irreverent,  crassly 
realistic;  yet  from  another,  considering  the  real 
purport  of  his  life  and  the  fact  of  the  cross,  it 
was  very  much  to  the  point.  I  was  startled. 
Eagerly  and  reverently,  and  with  a  prayer  for' 
help,  I  told  them  of  an  ancient  Book  and  of  its 
prophecy  about  one,  Immanuel-to-come,  from 
whose  wounds  on  the  cross  healing  blood  had 
flowed;  was,  as  it  were,  still  flowing.  Never  did 
the  words  of  Zechariah  seem  more  apropos  to 
quote,  “There  shall  be  a  fountain  opened  for  sin 
and  for  uncleanness  .  .  .  And  he  shall  speak 


A  Nefarious  Plot  Foiled 


179 


peace  to  the  heathen.’ ’  And  never  did  it  seem 
more  fitting  to  sing  a  hymn,  which  we  did,  the 
Chinese  Christians  joining  in,  “  There  is  a  foun¬ 
tain  filled  with  blood.” 

Their  silence  and  serious  attention  was  the  more 
impressive  in  view  of  the  fact  that  but  recently, 
when  holding  services  in  one  of  the  churches,  a 
“holy  man”  (one  trying  to  make  merit  by  the 
conventional  “good  works”  prescribed  in  Chinese 
Buddhism  and  Taoism),  after  listening  a  while 
to  what  I  was  expounding  in  Hebrews  of  Christ 
as  High  Priest  and  Sacrifice,  grew  uneasy,  then 
impatient  and  finally  ostentatiously  stalked  out. 
I  learned  afterward  that  he  was  disgusted  with 
the  “vulgar  teaching  about  a  man  shedding  his 
blood  to  save  others.” 

It  was  wonderful  how  these  men,  hard-faced 
and  double-dealing,  were  touched  by  the  story  of 
Christ  as  it  came  in  this  guise,  and  wonderful  how 
the  Holy  Spirit  had  in  store  for  us  a  rewardful 
surprise,  for  it  was  manifest,  as  our  conversation 
progressed,  that  the  headmen  were  moved  through 
this  simple  narrative,  seasoned  as  it  was  with  all 
the  prayer  that  had  preceded,  voluntarily  to  con¬ 
fess  the  unreasonableness  of  their  attitude  and 
the  injustice  of  their  decision  regarding  the  elder 
and  his  brother.  Imagine  our  amazement  to  hear 
them  volunteer  the  solution  which  from  the  first 
would  seem  to  have  been  a  more  natural  and  rea- 


180 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


sonable  one,  namely,  that  the  brother  shonld  give 
“ Dives”  a  fair  price,  determined  by  them,  for 
the  calf  slain,  that  he  shonld  also  pay  “as  the 
price  of  playing  the  fool”  a  tine,  “to  warn  him 
and  others  against  such  conduct  in  the  future,” 
as  they  naively  put  it,  and  that  the  elder  should 
be  free  of  all  responsibility  in  the  case,  whether 
financial  or  moral.  We  could  scarcely  believe 
our  senses,  so  quickly  had  the  case  tumbled  out 
of  its  intricacies  into  reasonable  form.  This  de¬ 
nouement  was  the  more  interesting  because  the 
day  preceding,  “Dives,”  though  remaining  in  the 
village,  had  ostentatiously  given  out  that  he  was 
going  to  the  county  seat  to  push  the  case  at  once 
before  the  magistrate.  We  knew  that  this  move 
was  a  bluff,  partly  to  cause  us  to  fear  and  partly 
to  give  him  added  “face,”  that  strange  thing  of 
strange  ways,  for  he  would  argue  that  he  had 
been  forced  in  order  to  coerce  more  money,  for 
the  defeated  has  to  pay  all  costs,  and  he  would 
argue  that,  in  the  successful  prosecution  of  his 
case,  he  had  been  forced  to  add  on  to  his  expenses 
by  “road  money”  involved  in  an  additional  trip, 
plus  feasts  and  wine  money  in  the  city,  and  more 
“gifts”  to  the  yamen  henchmen.  An  element  of 
his  venom  was  to  make  the  elder  smart  to  the 
limit  and  by  swelling  expenses  he  could  accom¬ 
plish  that  end. 

Powerful  and  angry  as  was  “Dives,”  yet  his 


A  Nefakious  Plot  Foiled 


181 


sinister  threats  and  the  thought  of  future  vin¬ 
dictive  action,  usually  a  fear-breeder  among  the 
heathen  and  a  determiner  of  timid,  cowardly  ac¬ 
tion,  seemed  to  have  no  power  now  over  the  head¬ 
men.  We  felt  it  was  of  the  Spirit.  They  were 
relieved  and  happy,  satisfied  and  self-respecting, 
in  a  decent  decision.  Then  and  there  the  terms 
of  this  just  settlement  of  the  case  were  written 
out  in  duplicate  and  signed  by  the  principals 
present. 

We  sang  a  hymn  of  thanksgiving  and  after  a 
closing  prayer  gave  to  each  headman  Gospel 
tracts  and  picture  cards  of  Christ’s  miracles.  It 
was  a  miracle  that  they  now  received  them.  A 
day  earlier  these  men  would  no  more  have  touched 
them  than  a  poisonous  snake.  When  they  came 
they  wore  a  wary,  suspicious  smile.  Now,  as  we 
escorted  them  to  the  outer  yard  gate,  they  were 
pleased  and  friendly.  Realizing  that  we  desired 
only  fair  dealing  and  their  individual  and  com¬ 
munity  welfare,  they  had  voluntarily  committed 
themselves  to  send  us  pupils  for  our  village 
school.  The  ice  of  suspicion  was  melted.  After 
they  had  gone,  how  gratefully  we  thanked  God 
for  a  good  day’s  work,  for  the  beginning  of  hope¬ 
ful  things  there  unto  his  praise. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

ENMESHED  IN  A  HEATHEN  LAWSUIT 

The  “motif”  of  this  episode  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Chinese 
New  Year  was  coming  on.  At  that  time,  particularly,  the 
Chinese  even  commit  suicide  over  their  financial  troubles. 
Needless  to  say,  many  schemes  are  conjured  up,  out  of  their 
desperation  for  ready  money,  whereby  they  may  “do”  someone 
else.  One  witnesses  every  sort  of  “emergency  expedient,” 
from  stupid  thievery  to  unthinkably  sharp  tricks. 

One  winter  day  as  I  was  leaving  an  out-station 
after  administering  the  Lord’s  Supper,  the  elders 
and  Christians  of  the  church  told  me  a  woeful 
tale.  A  heathen  was  arranging  to  “sue”  one  of 
their  number,  a  meek  and  quiet  man. 

When  one  realizes  something  of  what  a  lawsuit 
in  China  means,  he  can  understand  the  tragedy 
that  this  little  band  of  Christians  was  facing.  For 
one  of  the  most  fearful  instrumentalities,  except 
the  opium  pipe,  used  of  Satan  for  perpetuating 
his  usurped  lordship  over  China  is  the  lawsuit. 

The  principal  factors  in  the  Chinese  yamen,  or 
law  court,  are  the  magistrate,  the  writers,  and 
the  “ ya  i”  (runners,  henchmen). 

Under  the  old  legal  system  all  officials  were 

182 


In  a  Heathen  Lawsuit 


183 


supposed  to  obtain  office  by  merit,  through  4  ‘  civil 
service”  examinations  in  the  Chinese  classics. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  multitudes  of  offices  were 
and  still  are  bought  outright,  or  “ farmed  out” 
to  the  highest  bidder ;  that  is,  turned  over  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  him  who  promised  the  “one 
higher  up”  the  fattest  return  for  a  certain  posi¬ 
tion  during  a  series  of  years,  or  even  of  months. 
All  this  system  was  facilitated  by  the  rule  that 
no  magistrate  serve  in  his  own  district  or  prov¬ 
ince.  As  an  outsider  he  would  have  more  “face” 
to  pursue  his  policy  of  squeeze  than  if  he  were 
grinding  the  face  of  his  neighbors,  so  to  speak. 

Also  the  magistrate  was  supposed  to  serve 
from  love  of  his  fellowmen  and  devotion  to  his 
country’s  welfare,  “pure  patriotism,”  and  there¬ 
fore  to  receive  no  salary  from  the  throne.  The 
inevitable  result  of  having  to  eat,  coupled  with 
the  omnipresent  fact  of  an  unregenerate  heart, 
can  easily  explain  how  magistrates,  in  lieu  of 
salary,  entered  upon  careers  of  systematic 
“squeeze.” 

A  Chinese  magistrate  is  himself  the  judge  and 
jury  and  often  counsellor  both  for  the  defense  and 
the  prosecution.  In  fact,  in  a  case  at  law  in  his 
yamen,  he  is  “the  whole  thing.”  With  such 
power  in  his  hands,  but  without  Christian  back¬ 
ground  or  tradition  or  training  or  profession,  an 
official  can  rarely  resist  the  back-stairs  methods 


184 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


of  adding  to  his  pile.  The  accuser  in  a  county 
yamen  lawsuit  offers,  by  a  circuitous  route,  one 
hundred  dollars  for  a  favorable  decision,  and  the 
accused,  by  a  method  equally  circuitous,  is  in¬ 
formed  of  what  the  accuser  has  done  and  offers 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars — and  wins.  Money 
talks. 

All  this  is  perfectly  understood  by  everybody, 
is  taken  for  granted  as  a  fact,  and  so  acted  upon 
by  those  who  press  processes  in  the  yamen.  An 
atheist  was  once  interrupted  in  his  lectures  by  a 
canny  old  Quaker  who  said:  4 ‘Friend,  the  Good 
Book  says  that  the  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart 
there  is  no  God;  but  thee  dost  blab  it  right  out!” 
Now,  in  Christian  lands,  “malicious  and 
malevolent  innuendoes  do  ripple  along  just  under 
the  surface,”  as  Boosevelt  said  of  besmirching 
rumors  that,  without  foundation,  befoul  the  repu¬ 
tation  of  public  servants,  while  in  heathen  lands 
the  people  just  “blab  it  right  out,”  but  with  this 
difference:  that  the  people’s  indictment  of  their 
rulers  is  usually  true.  And,  forsooth,  how  else 
than  by  muddied  methods  is  an  impecunious,  well- 
nigh  salaryless  official,  who  has  paid  $10,000  for  a 
short-term  appointment,  to  keep  himself  from 
starving,  much  less  feather  his  nest?  A  man  who 
knows  just  said  to  me  of  a  provincial  treasurer: 
“If  Mr.  Wang  is  left  unmolested  for  six  months 
in  his  office  he  will  clear  $400,000!” 


In  a  Heathen  Lawsuit 


185 


Walking  along  a  road  with  common  country 
folks,  I  have  many  a  time  heard  them,  out  of  bit¬ 
ter  and  first-hand  experience,  speak  their  convic¬ 
tion.  They  have  a  proverb  on  the  subject  that 
runs  like  this: 

“Ya  men  k’ou  hsiang  nan  h’ai;  Yu  li,  wu 
ch’ien,  liou  tsin  lai .”  That  is  to  say,  “The  yamen 
gate  faces,  or  opens  toward,  the  south;  whoever 
has  reason  on  his  side,  without  bribe  money ,  just 
let  him  step  in  last.”  His  case  is  hopeless. 

And,  although  the  people  euphemistically  call  a 
magistrate  “the  father  and  mother  of  the 
people,”  yet,  for  characterlessness,  with  conse¬ 
quent  lack  of  public  spirit  and  disregard  of  the 
general  weal,  they  distrust  them,  saying:  “All 
officials  ought  to  be  slain.  But  what’s  the  use? 
If  we  dispose  of  the  rulers  we  have,  just  as  bad 
will  come  to  take  their  places!” 

Whoever  lives  among  the  people  knows  that 
these  conditions  obtain,  now  under  the  republic, 
no  less  than  under  the  empire.  Another  name 
for  the  government  has  not  changed  the  unre¬ 
generate  nature  of  the  men  misadministering  it. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  magistrate  stand  the 
yamen  writers.  They  are  swift  to  plan  evil  that 
the  ya  i  are  swift  to  execute.  They  have  enough 
learning  and  are  practiced  enough  in  the  tricks 
to  know  how  to  “manage  the  business”  from  the 
inside.  Often,  though  a  magistrate  might  be 


186 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


feebly  well-intentioned,  these  men  can  thwart  him. 
Unlike  the  magistrate,  they  are  not  outsiders, 
they  understand  the  local  situation,  are  usually 
fixtures  in  the  yamen  (for  somebody  has  to  be 
there  who  4 ‘knows  the  ropes, ”  and  with  whom 
the  magistrate  can  officially  advise). 

Last,  and  least,  but  as  necessary  to  the  system 
as  a  mule  to  a  Chinese  cart,  stand  the  ya  i  ( yamen 
runners).  To  say  that  they  are  tough  customers, 
a  hard  gang,  is  to  express  it  mildly.  They  have 
long  ago  learned  the  art  of  “living  off  the  hole,” 
as  few  of  them  get  even  the  semblance  of  wages. 
Usually  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  hang 
around  an  ordinary  Hsien  (county)  yamen,  some¬ 
times  hundreds  more.  These  creatures  range 
through  the  villages  and  seek  out  those  who  have 
property,  and  who  therefore  may  be  squeezed 
with  profit.  As  a  hound  scents  blood,  they  scent 
money.  They  accuse  men  of  crime  on  the  strength 
of  innuendoes  hinted  by  their  enemies,  these 
enemies  often  paying  the  ya  i  to  prefer  the 
charges.  Grudges  are  made  the  most  of.  It  is 
often  dangerous  to  be  well  off,  as  many  a  farmer 
learns  to  his  sorrow,  dangerous  even  to  be  sus¬ 
pected  of  “getting  over  the  days  comfortably.” 
Innocence  of  crime  is  no  panoply  or  protection. 
There  is  no  bottom  to  the  iniquities  perpetrated. 
Disasters  topple  as  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
upon  men’s  heads  as  they  did  upon  Job’s,  for 


In  a  Heathen  Lawsuit 


187 


these  sharpers  are  abroad  in  the  land  thinking 
np  every  scheme  to  turn  a  dishonest  penny.  And 
often,  even  when  the  innocent  victim  is  landed  in 
the  yamen,  and  after  the  magistrate  has  meted 
ont  his  punishment,  the  end  is  not  yet,  for  the 
ya  i  have  many  methods,  not  of  moral  suasion, 
to  extract  money,  and  many  a  farmer  is  left  not 
only  sore  from  beating  and  other  forms  of  tor¬ 
ture,  but  with  his  pocket  needlessly  lightened  of 
many  a  dollar  that  the  ya  i  wanted  for  food  and 
drink.  Some  men  are  like  roaring  lions  in  their 
open  and  defiant  violence ;  these  are  wolves 
steadily  gnawing  the  bowels  of  sleepers. 

In  view  of  the  conditions  that  obtain,  it  is  un¬ 
derstandable  that  the  pressure  brought  to  bear* 
by  the  native  brethren  upon  a  missionary  pastor 
to  intervene  wdien  one  of  his  Christians  is  sud¬ 
denly  hauled  off  to  the  yamen  and  unjustly  en¬ 
dures  trial,  danger  and  even  torture,  is  sometimes 
terrific. 

As  the  heathen  who  was  planning  this  suit 
against  the  unoffending  Christian  was  a  bully  and 
had  a  “pull”  with  the  ya  i,  he  was  pretty  certain 
to  win. 

The  occasion  of  the  suit  was  a  piece  of  land  that 
the  Christian  had  some  years  before  bought  of 
the  heathen.  The  land  had  been  at  the  time  of 
the  purchase  fully  paid  for,  and  the  deed  which 
they  showed  me  was  properly  witnessed  to.  But, 


188 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


as  stated  above,  the  days  were  approaching  the 
Chinese  New  Year,  and  the  bnlly,  like  most  other 
Chinese,  needed  “plenty  money”  at  that  festive 
season  of  eating,  drinking,  gambling,  “fire-crack- 
ering,”  and  general  extravagance  and  riot. 

Moreover,  the  land  in  question  during  eight 
years  had  increased  in  value  from  a  few  dollars 
to  five  hundred  dollars  an  acre,  due  to  its  prox¬ 
imity  to  the  German-built,  prosperity-bringing 
railroad  that  runs  through  our  Tsingtao  field. 
And  the  covetous  heart  of  the  heathen  could  not 
resist  his  temptation.  From  his  brazen  viewpoint 
it  was  “risk  little,  gain  much.”  “Though  the 
Christian  owns  the  land  he  will  at  least  pay  me  a 
large  squeeze  if  I  agree  to  withdraw  the  suit!” 
So  he  challenged  the  Christian’s  right  to  his  own 
property ! 

I  called  in  the  signers  of  the  deed,  heathen 
neighbors  (who  had  witnessed  the  completion  of 
the  sale),  and  they  acknowledged  their  signatures 
and  promised  to  swear  that  this  was  the  original 
deed,  that  it  was  properly  made  out,  and  that 
these  were  their  names,  written  by  themselves. 
If  they  stood  by  their  guns  the  heathen  suer  had 
no  case.  So  I  left  the  village  with  a  peaceful  mind 
about  the  matter. 

After  I  had  gone  some  miles  on  my  journey 
I  descried  two  men  coming  toward  me  from  be¬ 
hind,  running  across  the  snow-clad  plain.  Ar- 


In  a  Heathen  Lawsuit 


189 


rived,  they  proved  to  be  the  sued  Christian  and 
his  brother.  They  stated  that,  after  I  left,  the 
heathen  witnesses  had  conferred  together  and 
agreed  that  the  heathen  suer  was  the  more  power¬ 
ful.  He  was  violent  and  cunning.  He  would  use 
bribery,  and  succeed.  Therefore,  they  decided 
that  it  would  be  poor  policy  to  witness,  in  the 
interests  of  the  meek  “  Jesus  man/’  that  they  had 
written  their  names  as  signed  to  the  deed. 

It  was  a  clear  and  desperate  case  of  “pray  the 
thing  through  or  fail.”  There  was  no  other  way. 
And,  standing  there  in  the  open,  whitened  fields, 
the  wind  whistling  about  us,  I  prayed  again  with 
the  distressed  brothers,  and,  leaving  them  once 
more,  went  on  to  my  appointments. 

A  few  days  later  I  returned  to  find  a  pretty 
mess.  Not  only  had  the  covetous  heathen,  by 
methods  of  which  he  and  the  ya  i  and  the  yamen 
writers  alone  were  cognizant,  got  his  case  “prop¬ 
erly”  before  the  magistrate,  but  he  had  secured 
the  moral  (?)  support  of  the  headman  of  the  vil¬ 
lage.  That  night  I  called  him  into  my  room  and 
pleaded  with  him.  But  all  in  vain.  He  sat  sullen 
and  unresponsive.  “The  thing  was  done.”  When 
I  left  he  strengthened  himself  and  his  backers  in 
their  wicked  determination  by  giving  a  two-day 
wine  feast  and  orgy. 

From  that  time  on  we  gave  ourselves  over  to 
prayer  about  the  matter.  In  a  few  days  I  received 


190 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


many  letters  from  tlie  Christian  and  his  friends 
pleading  with  me  to  exert  my  influence  at  the 
yamen.  “Not  to  manage  the  affair  like  a  Catholic 
priest,  of  course,  but  only  to  speak  a  word  of  ex¬ 
planation,  at  least  to  present  your  card,”  and  so 
save  him  from  reduction  to  beggary !  He  and  his 
friends  came  in  person  to  plead  with  me.  It  was 
excruciating,  their  distress,  also  their  trust  in  the 
arm  of  flesh  was  pathetic. 

When  the  sued  man  came  the  last  time  he  was 
armed  with  a  letter,  carefully  prepared  by  the 
Christians,  which  he  requested  me  to  send  to  Hr. 
Corbett,  invoking  his  aid  as  efficacious  with  the 
American  consul  to  put  pressure  on  the  magis¬ 
trate.  As  we  sipped  tea  together  we  probed  him 
to  see  if  this  calamity  was  not  in  any  sense  in 
the  nature  of  deserved  punishment  for  sins,  rather 
than  the  testing  of  faith.  Gradually  he  confessed 
voluntarily  to  sins  of  non-observance  of  the  Sab¬ 
bath,  of  breaking  down  the  family  altar,  of  un¬ 
willingness  to  subscribe  to  the  Lord’s  work, 
although  God  had  prospered  him. 

So  we  all  knelt  together  and  asked  God  to  give 
him  a  truly  penitent  heart  so  that  God  might 
forgive  and  save  him.  He  promised  future 
obedience. 

“Now  would  you  be  willing  to  hand  me  this 
letter  and  trust  God  direct  for  deliverance?”  I 
asked. 


In  a  Heathen  Lawsuit 


191 


He  was  not  ready.  We  all  knelt  down  again 
and  pleaded  that  his  faith  and  love  might  mount 
to  this  point.  When  we  arose  he  handed  me  the 
letter,  saying,  “Destroy  it.”  “Would  you  now 
be  willing  to  pray  God  to  help  yon  forgive  your 
enemy  and  bless  him,  even  though  he  takes  all 
your  land  and  your  home?”  This  was  cutting 
him  to  the  quick.  But  we  all  knelt  and  prayed 
once  more.  When  we  arose  he  was  radiant.  His 
burden  was  rolled  off  upon  the  Great  Burden 
Bearer.  He  at  once  exclaimed,  “Now  I’ll  go 
home,  and  as  soon  as  I  get  there  I’ll  begin  to 
preach  the  Doctrine  to  my  family  and  neighbors, 
and  to  my  enemy ,  too.”  So  he  went  in  great 
peace. 

Two  weeks  later  I  met  him  on  his  own  village 
street.  Corroding  care  had  left  his  face.  His 
first  word,  as  he  seized  my  hand,  was,  “My  enemy 
has  of  his  own  accord  withdrawn  the  suit !  And 
he  is  now  my  friend!  I  am  preaching  the  Gospel 
to  him  and  to  his  family,  and  they  listen  gladly.  ’  ’ 


CHAPTER  XVII 


A  PERSECUTION  CASE  WITH 
A  HAPPY  ENDING 

There  are  five  brothers,  relatively  well-to-do, 
with  their  wives  and  children  living  in  the  same 
yard  with  the  aged  parents.  Some  months  ago 
the  third  brother  became  a  believer  in  the  Chris¬ 
tian  doctrine,  through  his  first  knowledge  of  the 
Gospel,  which  he  had  heard  us  preach  in  the  big 
market  town  to  which  he  had  gone  from  his  vil¬ 
lage,  which  nestled  at  the  foot  of  a  hill. 

The  result  of  his  earnest  belief  in  the  Jesus 
doctrine  was,  of  course,  his  exhorting  and  pray¬ 
ing  for  his  own  family  to  accept  Christ  as  Saviour. 
The  other  brothers  had  begun,  in  their  slow, 
cautious  way,  to  think  over  the  matter  of  this 
new  doctrine  and  to  become  considerably  inter¬ 
ested,  when  suddenly  an  untoward  accident  hap¬ 
pened.  Their  neighbors  in  this  small  village,  be¬ 
coming  alarmed  about  so  many  of  their  fellow 
villagers  being  bewitched  by  the  strange  and 
ominous  foreign  religion,  strange  because  new  to 
them,  and  ominous  because  inimical  to  the  wor¬ 
ship  of  their  ancestors,  hatched  up  a  scheme 

192 


A  Persecution  Case 


193 


whereby  this  family  of  inquirers  might  be  made 
to  eat  bitterness. 

It  has  now  begun  to  percolate  down  among  the 
masses  in  my  section  of  China  that  it  is  not 
altogether  safe  to  persecute  apostates  from  the 
ancestral  religion,  for  it  is  somewhat  understood 
that  the  government  has  made  treaties  with  for¬ 
eign  countries  whereby  not  only  their  nationals 
shall  be  allowed  to  hold  in  peace — i.  e.,  unmolested 
— new  and  strange  beliefs,  but  Chinese  as  well 
turning  to  the  foreign  religion.  So,  in  order  to 
give  face  (that  very  real  but  important  as  in¬ 
tangible  asset  in  China)  to  the  persecutors,  the 
head  hired  man  of  the  most  well-to-do  villager 
was  put  up  to  take  the  lead.  One  day  early  in 
September  a  young  son  of  one  of  these  brothers, 
“Lao  San”  (Venerable  Third  Brother),  set  down 
a  basket  he  was  carrying,  whereupon  this  man 
took  the  opportunity  to  pull  up  some  sweet  potato 
vines  and  put  them  in  the  youth’s  basket.  Then, 
with  great  boldness  born  of  good  form,  he,  with 
another  confederate  as  witness,  hurried  to  his 
master  and  triumphantly  announced  that  a  child 
of  the  Christians  was  stealing  his  potatoes.  This 
was  sufficient  “casus  belli,”  though  all  concerned 
knew  that  the  accuser  had  put  no  potatoes  in  the 
basket,  only  vines,  and  even  had  potatoes  been 
put  in  they  were  as  yet  too  little  and  unripe  to 
be  of  any  value.  So,  “clothed  in  justification 


194 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


complete,  ’  ’  the  grandson  of  this  well-to-do  village 
leader,  together  with  several  other  roughs,  includ¬ 
ing  the  overseer  preferring  the  charge,  worked 
themselves  into  a  pitch  of  fury,  and  seeking  an 
opportunity,  found  two  of  these  foreign-devil  doc¬ 
trine-learning  brethren  upon  the  street  and  set 
upon  them,  all  unsuspecting.  The  attackers  used 
fists  and  stones  and  clubs,  and,  getting  more  ex¬ 
cited  as  they  proceeded  with  pseudo  punishment, 
they  even  pulled  off  their  heavy  hob-nailed 
peasant  shoes  and  applied  them  with  force  to  the 
faces  of  the  unoffending  sufferers.  A  crowd  of 
heathen,  sympathizers  all  with  this  punitive  force, 
also  joined  them,  and  by  the  time  they  were 
through  with  “  Venerable  Brothers  Three  and 
Five,”  their  faces  were  reduced  to  something  like 
pulp. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  assaulted,  still 
dominated  as  they  were  by  their  heathen  code, 
the  only  thing  to  do,  in  defense  of  their  honor, 
was,  under  the  circumstances,  to  steer  straight  for 
the  yamen  and  prefer  charges  against  their  out- 
ragers.  Of  course,  it  would  be  expensive.  They 
understood  that  perfectly.  But  no  matter  now, 
even  if  it  took  their  last  cent,  yea,  the  roof  from 
over  their  heads  and  the  ground  from  under  their 
feet.  Their  “ dander”  was  up.  “Face”  was  at 
stake,  and  ‘  ‘  face,  ’  ’  in  this  concrete  instance,  meant 
revenge,  satisfying  the  pride  of  unregenerate 


A  Persecution  Case 


195 


hearts,  not  so  different  from  “face,”  in  that 
sense,  in  all  lands. 

Accordingly,  with  their  faces  in  a  gory  condi¬ 
tion,  which  they  felt  was  the  best  kind  of  an  argu¬ 
ment  to  advance  their  cause  before  the  magis¬ 
trate,  they  started  off  for  a  nearby  yamen,  breath¬ 
ing,  if  not  slaughter,  then  at  least  threatenings 
and  revenge.  It  was  good  fortune  for  them  and 
for  the  cause  of  Christ  (though  the  brothers  knew 
it  not)  that  shortly  after  they  had  started  upon 
the  road  an  elder,  a  trusted  friend  of  mine,  ar¬ 
rived  at  the  village  and  learned  of  the  exciting 
episode.  With  good  sense  and  Christian  prin¬ 
ciple,  and  believing  thoroughly  in  First  Corin¬ 
thians  6  (which  is  a  very  vital  and  fitting  appeal  to 
Christians  not  to  go  in  controversy  before  heathen 
magistrates,  the  whole  force  of  which  Scripture 
only  those  living  in  heathendom  can  understand), 
the  elder  started  at  once  on  a  donkey,  whose  pace 
could  actually  exceed  the  ordinary  gait  of  a  walk¬ 
ing  man,  in  “hot  pursuit”  of  the  brethren  swear¬ 
ing  vengeance.  He  overtook  them  and  was  able, 
contrary  to  the  ordinary  result  under  such  cir¬ 
cumstances,  not  through  his  gift  of  speech,  but 
through  earnest  preliminary  prayer  along  the 
road,  to  persuade  the  brethren  to  return  and  at 
least  postpone  their  preference  of  charges. 

Now,  if  any  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  is  a  hard 
doctrine  to  the  Chinese  heathen  mind,  next  to  the 


196 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


humbling  of  pride  that  there  is  in  the  cross  (as 
expounded  in  Phil.  2:1-7),  and  next  to  the 
humbling  of  human  wisdom  (as  expounded  in  1 
Cor.  1),  it  is  the  doctrine  of  First  Corinthians  6. 
Indeed,  it  is  a  tough  doctrine  for  a  mature  Chris¬ 
tian  to  face,  “Why  not  rather  take  wrong?  Why 
not  rather  be  defrauded? ”  After  a  man  has  done 
everything  within  the  church  to  get  an  ugly  affair 
satisfactorily  settled,  why  should  he  be  asked  to 
do  more?  After  he  has  suffered  personal  wrong 
in  silence  for  the  sake  of  the  cause,  why  should 
he  not  go  to  heathen  judges?  But  no!  there 
stands  the  question  (which  is  a  command)  so  ob¬ 
durate,  so  headstrong,  so  apparently  unreason¬ 
able,  “Why  not  rather  tahe  ivrong?  Why  not 
rather  he  defrauded?”  It  requires  considerable 
grace  for  the  inquirer  out  of  heathendom  to  throw 
down  the  gauntlet  to  prevalent  custom,  to  refuse 
to  be  of  the  class  of  the  “brother  going  to  law 
against  brother,  and  that  before  unbelievers.” 

The  seriousness  of  this  case  can  only  be  judged 
by  one  who  understands  the  Chinese  viewpoint 
as  to  assault  and  battery.  When  men  and  boys 
in  the  West  get  angry  they  frequently  settle  it 
with  their  fists,  words  fast  and  furious,  then  the 
dare,  then  the  fight.  Not  so  in  China.  The  dis¬ 
pute  ordinarily  ends,  at  least  ostensibly,  in 
tongue-lashing.  Unless  it  is  the  most  aggravated 
kind  of  a  case  no  one  thinks  of  using  personal 


A  Peksecution  Case 


197 


violence  upon  an  opponent;  the  Chinese  method 
is -to  revile.  And  this  method,  while  from  the 
Western  viewpoint  is  comical,  from  the  Chinese 
viewpoint  is  terrible  indeed.  The  Westerners, 
when  they  cnrse,  take  the  name  of  deity  in  vain. 
That,  even  in  its  blasphemy,  is  a  direct  testimony 
to  the  supremacy  of  the  living  God,  using  the 
name  of  him  than  whom  there  is  none  higher  to 
curse  into  perdition  an  enemy.  But  the  Chinese, 
though  surrounded  by  many  gods,  of  varying 
powers  and  functions,  yet  instinctively  realize 
that  they  have  no  gods  worth  cursing  by,  so  that 
in  reviling  a  man,  in  order  to  demean  and  humili¬ 
ate  him,  they  call  him  by  the  name  of  some  lower 
animal,  such  as  a  donkey,  or  worse  still,  a  rabbit, 
or  unthinkably  worse,  a  turtle,  all  of  which  is 
amusing  to  the  uninitiated. 

Incidentally,  therefore,  there  could  hardly  be  a 
break  so  bad  in  preaching  in  the  West  as  for  a 
missionary  to  the  Chinese  to  exhort  persistence 
in  the  faith  by  using  the  famous  illustration  in 
the  fable  of  the  tortoise  and  the  hare.  The 
Chinese  are  natural  actors,  with  a  tremendous 
sense  of  the  importance  of  seeming,  all  of  which 
is  a  phase  of  their  much-discussed  “face.”  Re¬ 
peatedly  I  have  seen  a  “word  fight.”  As  many 
of  the  villagers  as  can  hear  the  loud  talking  in 
high,  strident  notes,  or  hoarse  and  guttural  with 
passion,  gather  to  hear  the  fun.  One  wonders  if 


198 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


they  really  enjoy  it,  so  distressing,  so  humiliat¬ 
ing.  The  men  prance  up  to  each  other  just  as 
actors  do  in  the  open  country  theaters.  One 
would  think,  from  their  fierce  mien  and  clenched 
fists,  that  they  would  tear  each  other  to  pieces. 
Often  partisans  take  hold  of  each  man,  allowing 
him  to  tug  fiercely  as  if  to  get  away  from  them 
and  apparently  claw  his  enemy  into  tatters,  but 
everybody  knows  that  he  would  not  get  away  if 
he  could,  it  is  just  to  seem  to  get  away.  Ordi¬ 
narily  a  man  rushes  up  to  his  opponent,  who 
scowls  at  him,  and  then,  passing  by,  he  strikes  a 
stage  attitude.  Folding  his  arms  grandly  across 
his  heart,  and  having  his  back  to  his  opponent,  he 
flays  him  alive  with  this  animal  talk,  using  all  his 
skill  of  tongue-lashing  in  comparing  both  his  an¬ 
cestors  and  his  descendants  to  these  various  in¬ 
ferior  orders  of  creation.  This  skill  he  was  taught 
in  babyhood  even  as  he  sat  on  the  brick  bed,  and 
has  augmented  it  by  practice  ever  since. 

So  it  was  rather  a  serious  business  when  these 
roughs  pummeled  the  faces  of  “Venerable 
Brothers  Three  and  Five”  into  jelly.  The 
Chinese  heathen  doctrine  of  Li  (reason)  in  such 
cases  is  that  men  strike  animals,  not  men.  Riksha 
coolies  have  made  many  an  angered  foreigner 
smart  for  hitting  one  of  their  guild.  In  this  case 
men  having  been  struck  they  must  do  something 
desperate  and  extraordinary  to  avenge  the  insult. 


A  Persecution  Case 


199 


However,  wholly  by  prayer,  our  fellow  elder 
was  able  to  cause  the  offended  and  offenders  to 
agree  that  they  would  delay  the  matter  until  a 
certain  date  when  I  was  to  arrive,  and  then  in 
the  presence  of  all  concerned  we  would  talk  it 
over.  In  their  hearts  none  wanted  the  occasion 
which  all  feared ;  that  is,  the  appearing  before  the 
magistrate  with  the  high  probability  that  the 
magistrate  with  his  ya  i  (henchmen)  would, 
through  blackmail  and  other  fraudulent  methods, 
“eat  them  all  up.” 

On  the  day  of  my  arrival  I  was  met  far  out 
from  the  village  by  the  brothers  and  escorted  to 
their  yard,  which,  during  this  ideal  month  of  Oc¬ 
tober,  was  at  its  very  best.  On  the  trees  still 
hung  juicy  pears,  in  the  corner  of  the  yard  was  a 
vine  tempting  with  grapes,  and  on  the  yard  walls 
bloomed  beautiful  flowering  beans.  A  table  and 
stools  and  benches  had  been  brought  out,  and  in 
this  pleasant  little  spot,  with  the  sea  nearby  and 
the  hills  about,  and  fleecy  clouds  floating  through 
the  blue  sky,  the  love  feast  was  held.  So  im¬ 
portant  was  the  case  that  not  only  did  the  village 
headmen  appear,  but  several  from  nearby  villages 
as  well,  also  the  headman  over  ten  villages.  The 
Chinese  can  easily  understand,  from  their  demo¬ 
cratic  village  government,  what  the  Scripture 
suggests  of  a  faithful  steward  being  made  ruler 
over  ten  cities.  With  them  came  the  assaulters, 


200 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


all  wearing  the  masked  smile  which  the  Chinese, 
as  past  masters  in  the  art  of  simulation,  seem 
able  to  put  on  at  will  to  conceal  the  spirit  of  sus¬ 
picion,  fear,  hate,  envy,  jealousy  and  revenge 
which  so  often  and  so  powerfully  dominates  them. 
Having  no  acquaintance  with  foreigners  and  their 
ways,  and  knowing  only  and  that  vaguely  that 
they  had  power  and  were  to  be  dreaded,  the  vil¬ 
lage  leaders  were  at  first  very  noncommittal  and 
evasive.  In  the  initial  stage  of  our  investigation 
they  professed  blissful  ignorance  that  any  assault 
had  taken  place.  None  of  them  could,  of  course, 
understand  the  golden  rule;  they  all  realized  the 
Chinese  heathen  argument  as  to  the  seriousness 
of  striking  a  man;  none  expected  any  man  thus 
outraged  to  forgive  the  insult;  yet  gradually  it 
did  take  hold  of  them  that  we  were  not  there  to 
use  force  or  to  punish,  but  only  to  persuade,  and 
that  those  whom  the  foreigner  was  shepherding 
were  asked  to  do  what  from  their  viewpoint  was 
even  more  than  he  would  expect  from  the  heathen, 
namely,  that  the  Christians  should  be  willing  to 
forgive  the  wrongdoers,  while  the  culprits  were 
merely  asked  to  confess  that  they  had  done  this 
wrong,  that  they  had  done  it  without  proper 
grounds,  and  that  they  would  guarantee  in  the 
future  not  to  commit  the  like  offense  or  one  of 
its  spirit. 

Finally  they  got  this  conception,  and,  as  I  have 


A  Peksecution  Case 


201 


said,  all  feeling  as  they  did  the  horror  of  getting 
into  the  yamen,  and  realizing  the  reasonableness 
of  onr  arguments  as  to  the  folly  of  going  before 
the  magistrate,  they  offered  to  give  a  “punish¬ 
ment  feast”;  that  is,  to  get  up  a  big  eat  with  the 
place  of  honor  given,  to  the  outraged  ones  and 
together  to  partake  of  the  best  that  the  village 
could  produce,  winding  up  with  wine. 

But  not  even  this  was  demanded  or  even 
wanted.  Great  was  the  surprise  and  admiration 
as  to  the  Christian  doctrine,  this  “foreign  im¬ 
piety.”  It  did  not  take  long  to  gain  the  consent 
of  the  heathen  to  the  writing  of  a  contract  to 
which  all  the  headmen  and  the  missionary  and 
the  elder  and  both  the  parties  affixed  their  names, 
promising  that  hereafter  there  would  be  harmony 
of  action  among  the  Christians  and  those  who 
outraged  them.  Not  only  so,  but  the  village  head¬ 
man  then  and  there  willingly  agreed  to  furnish 
pupils  for  a  mission  school,  which  we  had  been 
hoping  to  start  under  the  auspices  of  the  brothers, 
but  which  had  been  blocked  by  the  heathen. 

Good  feeling  and  satisfaction  reigned,  and  the 
parting  was  impressive.  All  the  headmen,  with 
the  outragers,  as  well  as  the  Christian  and  the 
inquiring  brethren,  escorted  us  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  village.  Our  conversation  revealed 
the  fact  that  the  smiles,  as  we  parted,  were  now 
sincere ;  that  there  was  real  pleasure  at  our  visit ; 


202 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


that  a  new  light  had  broken  into  the  village  and 
that  the  men  in  the  midst  had  come  to  recognize 
by  this  incident  that  there  was  something  more 
important  than  “face.” 

In  conference  over  the  matter  with  the  elder 
as  we  parted,  he  who  had  had  much  experience 
of  village  life  and  its  quarrels  could  explain  this 
instance  only  on  one  ground,  that  the  Lord  had 
been  merciful  and  gracious.  And  step  by  step 
since  this  situation  has  developed  into  a  happy 
consummation,  through  the  prayers  of  those  who 
sincerely  desire  to  honor  Christ  in  the  midst  of 
these  humble  brethren,  “  beginners  in  the  Jesus 
doctrine.” 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  VILLAGE  WITH  THE  CHARMED  LIFE 

The  community  in  question  is  made  up  of  the 
Christians  of  Ta  Hsin  Tan,  the  home  village,  near 
Tsingtao,  of  the  Rev.  Ding  Lee  May  (Ting  Li 
Mei),  the  celebrated  evangelist  and  personal 
worker.  He  is  one  of  the  most  able  and 
consecrated  native  preachers  in  the  land,  and  used 
more  largely  in  leading  Chinese  students  to'  de¬ 
cide  for  the  ministry  than  any  other  person.  And 
in  the  midst  of  flood  conditions  exceeding  in  dura¬ 
tion  and  virulence  anything  for  fifty  years,  his 
village  had  a  deliverance  little  short  of  miracu¬ 
lous.  At  the  time  I  knew  his  clan  and  local  con¬ 
ditions  intimately. 

For  four  months  it  rained  almost  daily.  At 
last  the  rich,  flat  soil  of  a  large  part  of  our 
Tsingtao  country  field  became  sheets  of  mud. 
Every  river  of  North  China,  to  the  extent  of  its 
unregulated  power — not  merely  the  Yellow  River 
— is  “ China’s  sorrow. ”  When  the  annual  sum¬ 
mer  rains  begin  each  river  spreads  sandy  deso¬ 
lation  along  its  treeless  length.  As  the  river 
waxes  li  hai  (fierce)  in  its  swelling,  it  overflows 

203 


204 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


its  banks,  attacks  tbe  foundations  of  the  mnd 
houses,  sucks  them  into  its  ravening  maw,  leav¬ 
ing  whole  villages  broken  and  spent — toppled 
into  ruins. 

Siao  Kou  He,  the  river  that  flows  by  Pastor 
Ting’s  village,  raved  this  particular  year  without 
let  or  hindrance — except  in  one  instance.  It 
“ opened  its  mouth,”  as  the  Chinese  say  (that  is, 
broke  its  banks),  in  eighteen  places  within  six 
miles  of  Ta  Hsin  Tan,  but  never  harmed  it.  Vil¬ 
lages  everywhere  on  both  banks  were  whelmed. 
.What  this  means  may  be  imagined  from  the  fact 
that  the  villages  in  this  level  region  are  so  thick 
that  by  merely  turning  one’s  head  from  right  to 
left  one  can  count  from  thirty  to  sixty  of  them. 

The  river  hurled  itself  with  great  fury  against 
seventy  li  of  railroad  embankment,  strewing  it  all 
over  the  peasants’  farming  plots,  and  changing 
its  course — a  trick  of  Chinese  rivers.  In  the 
process  it  broke  the  German  bridges,  culverts  and 
river  masonry,  wrecking  the  best  work  that  the 
foreign  engineers  had  done — all  near  Ta  Hsin 
Tan,  but  that  village  was  spared.  The  more  is 
the  marvel  because  directly  across  from  Ta  Hsin 
Tan  the  river  crept  far  out  of  its  course  to  eat 
into  a  big  village  located  on  ground  higher  than 
Ta  Hsin  Tan,  which,  like  some  towns  of  Holland, 
lies  snugly  behind  its  dyke,  a  few  yards  from  the 
water,  and  lower  than  its  surface . 


Village  With  Charmed  Life 


205 


How  can  such,  a  deliverance  be  explained?  Is 
it  nothing  that,  in  the  midst  of  heathenism,  this 
village  has  fonr  generations  of  Christians,  and  its 
own  gronp  of  church  buildings,  plus  primary 
schools  for  boys  and  for  girls;  also  supports  its 
own  pastor,  evangelist  and  Bible  woman?  There 
also  is  located  our  girls’  middle  school,  the  hope 
and  prayer-focus  of  many  a  Christian  family. 
This  Ting  clan  has  conspicuously  and  signally 
stood  for  the  Lord  in  the  face  of  great  opposi¬ 
tion,  even  loss  and  persecution.  They  realize  that 
all  their  hopes  are  bound  up  in  the  one  true  and 
living  God  and  they  are  committed  to  his  service. 
They  had  had  marked  deliverances  before,  which 
had  bulwarked  their  faith,  and  which  were  now 
to  them  earnests  of  God’s  grace  in  these  later 
troublous  days  of  flood,  famine,  pestilence  and 
civil  war. 

The  heathen  aver  that  this  village  of  Ta  Hsin 
Tan  bears  a  charmed  life.  In  the  Boxer  days 
they  were  miraculously  saved  from  massacre  by 
the  sudden  and  unexpected  arrival  of  German 
troops.  Again,  later,  when  a  Boxer  gang  had 
burned  the  church  and  was  about  to  roast  alive 
the  Christians  gathered  for  prayer  in  one  com¬ 
pound,  a  stray  bullet  was  wonderfully  used  to 
stampede  the  ruffians  who  were  seized  with  the 
“panicky”  thought  that  German  sharpshooters 
were  hidden  all  about  them.  During  February, 


206 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


I 


1911,  when  plague  entered  their  village  it  did  not 
come  nigh  the  dwelling  of  a  Christian.  And  now 
the  flood  was  stayed  at  their  very  door. 

How  was  it  done!  We  believe  it  was  accom¬ 
plished  through  the  prevailing  prayer  of  the 
righteous  and  that  only,  even  as  in  the  case  of 
him  who  prayed  for  the  city  of  the  plain.  Mr. 
Ting  was  home  on  his  summer  vacation  for  a 
needed  rest.  The  need  for  that  rest  may  be  better 
understood  when  I  explain  that  several  times  at 
these  annual  homecomings  it  has  been  necessary 
for  us  to  hide  him  away  here  in  a  German  retreat 
where  neither  Chinese  nor  foreigner  could  learn 
his  whereabouts,  and  so  could  not  get  at  him  for 
interviews  or  speaking  engagements.  Only  thus 
could  he  rest.  But  our  minister  friend  was  not 
too  tired  for  prayer.  And  he  and  those  of  the 
same  mind  with  him  prayed  for  deliverance  in 
this  terrible  flood  crisis,  even  as  they  had  prayed 
in  other  crises. 

What  this  deliverance  meant  we  later  realized 
more  vividly  when,  plunging  around  through  the 
flooded  land  on  horseback  or  in  flat-bottomed 
boats  in  relief  work,  we  saw  the  villages  in  heaps 
of  muddy  ruins  and  deserted  by  the  strongest.  All 
who  could  get  away  fled  their  places  as  from  the 
plague.  Those  who  shortly  before  had  been  self- 
sustaining  farmers  went  out  of  these  villages  in 
swarms  as  beggars.  The  smell  was  awful.  Lazy 


Village  With  Charmed  Life 


207 


flies  lay  around  everywhere  by  the  thousands, 
feeding  on  the  filth.  Flood  fever  was  raising  its 
spectral  form.  The  water  had  drowned  ont  the 
wheat,  beans,  and  gao  Hang  crops.  Peanuts  and 
sweet  potatoes,  the  standard  winter  food  of  our 
people,  had  rotted  in  the  ground. 

In  many  villages  where  the  houses  were  on 
higher  ground  and  better  built,  one  saw  the 
“ water  mark”  eight  feet  or  more  upon  the  walls, 
still  foul  and  oozy  with  damp.  Such  a  height  of 
water  meant  that  the  people — those  who  could  not 
get  away — had  stood  on  their  brick  beds  and 
helplessly  watched  the  flood  creep  in  and  spoil 
their  food  and  wash  away  their  belongings  and 
often  topple  down  their  houses,  whole  or  in  part, 
upon  their  heads.  In  many  instances  the  people 
died  there,  holding  children  in  their  arms.  We 
found  some  corpses  of  mothers  and  babes  thus 
cruelly  done  to  death. 

From  such  devastation  and  catastrophe  there 
was  no  possibility  of  human  rescue.  Again  and 
again  the  waters  outside  of  and  above  the  Ta 
Hsin  Tan  dyke  slopped  over  the  very  top.  Yet 
it  was  from  such  an  impending  fate  that  Pastor 
Ting’s  village  was  saved  by  an  honest  embank¬ 
ment  honestly  built  and  honestly  kept  in  repair 
by  “the  Jesus  men”  of  his  village,  plus  the 
prayers  of  “the  Jesus  people”  who  really  trusted 
the  true  and  living  God  to  deliver. 


208 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


* 


And  imagine  the  courage  of  this  Chinese 
evangelist!  Not  content  with  the  salvation  of  his 
own  village,  when  the  land  became  thus  flooded, 
he  sallied  forth,  facing  the  rampant  waters  alone, 
in  an  attempt  to  reach  ns  and  tell  ns  of  the  relief 
work  needed.  Even  when  he  reached  the  un¬ 
broken  section  of  the  railroad  embankment  he  had 
to  grope  his  way  along  in  the  night,  hanging  on 
to  the  steel  rails  as  the  waters  snrged  fiercely 
aronnd  him.  The  clan  prayed  as  he  made  the 
essay.  The  prayer  of  the  righteons  prevailed, 
and  this  village  through  that  attempt  again  be¬ 
came  not  only  a  mighty  witness  to  the  present- 
day  trnth  of  the  Ninety-first  Psalm,  bnt  a  bringer 
of  life  to  the  sufferers  of  other  villages  round 
about. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
IN  BESIEGED  TSINGTAO 

When  the  World  War  burst,  upon  abstracted 
planet  soon  to  be  blood' red  the  imperial’ Japanese 
government  revealed’  its  determination  to  snatch 
some  considerable  booty  out  of  the  general  dis¬ 
tress.  With  Germany  decidedly  engaged  in  other 
parts'  of  the  world,  indeed  too  hard  pressed  to 
offer  effective'  defense  of  her  China  Kolonie,  a 
unique  opportunity  presented  itself  to  Japan 
once  more  to  get  something  for  nothing — as  she 
had  gotten  vast  domain  from  China*  in  her  ag¬ 
gression  upon  that  power  in  1894-1895;  as,  ten 
years  later,  1904-1905,  she  had  wrested  from 
Russia;  and,  as  now,  after  another  decade,  in 
1914,  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  andr  supposedly 
‘ ‘lucky  conquering  cycle,”  she*felt  that  “imperial 
destiny  urged’ ’  her  once  more  to  do. 

It  was  indeed  a  unique  opportunity  to  seize 
and  dominate  Shantung  Province,  strategic'  gate¬ 
way  into  China,  through  which  the  Germans  had 
laid  their  railway  in  order  to  get  at  the  vast  coal 
mines  of  Shansi  and  to  build  a  six-day-to-Europe 
iron  road  that  should  render  the  Manchurian- 
Siberian  Railway  all  but  obsolete. 


209 


210 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


Japan  had  long  itched  for  the  “  Sacred  Prov¬ 
ince’  ’  (Shantung),  lying  just  opposite  her  Korea 
— just  as  it  now  itches  for  Fukien  Province  op¬ 
posite  her  Formosa — both  these  taken  from 
China  by  the  law  of  the  jungle,  which  now  rules 
the  world,  between  governments,  and  will  con¬ 
tinue  so  to  do  (despite  the  “practically  idealistic” 
plans  and  pledges  of  cabinets  and  politicians) 
until  the  rightful  Lord  of  the  world  comes  back 
in  glory  to  rule  the  nations  in  a  righteousness  and 
an  equity  that  are  real. 

Such  a  chance,  therefore,  as  now  presented 
itself  to  Japan  from  the  standpoint  of  selfish  op¬ 
portunism,  was  not  to  be  passed  by.  Accord¬ 
ingly,  early  in  August,  1914,  Japan  issued  her 
famous  ultimatum  to  Germany,  demanding  the 
surrender  of  Germany’s  one  imperial  colony  on 
the  soil  of  Asia.  With  delicate  irony  all  her  own 
Japan'  couched  that  demand’  in  practically  the 
same  language  that  Germany,  jointly  with  France 
and  Russia,  had  addressed  to  Japan  twenty  years 
before,  when  Germany  with  Russia  and  France 
united  to  rob  Japan*  of  the  unholy  spoils  of  her 
victory  over  unprepared  China. 

Attacked  as  an  unarmed  man  by  a  burglar  in 
the  night,  China  had  yielded  to  the  demands  of 
Japan.  Then  that  trio- of  militarists  had  divided 
the  booty  denied  by  them  to  Japan,  the*  Shantung 
share  of  which  fell  to  Germany.  Now,  had  Ger- 


In  Besieged  Tsingtao 


211 


many  known  how  to.  be  unselfish  (which  always 
means  to  be  heavenly  wise)  she  had  a  simple  and 
strategic  way  to  thwart  the  island  empire’s  ambi¬ 
tion — hand  her  stolen  colony  back  to  China.  This 
wonld  have  chagrined  and  humiliated  Japan, 
putting  Japan  in  a  bad  light  before  the  world; 
would  have  saved  needlessly  vast  expense  and 
waste  of  life;  would  have  made  sympathy  for 
Germany  among  the  nations  at  the  very  outset  of 
the  World  War;  would  have  created  for  Germany 
a  vast  enthusiasm  among  the  Chinese,  so  that, 
when  the  trade  war  which  would  follow  the  war 
of  arms  was  resumed,  Germany  would  have  had 
the  inside  track  in  the’  tradesman’s  paradise,  the 
land  of  limitless  resources  and  economic  possi¬ 
bilities — China. 

But  Germany  was*  a  stranger  to  the  grace  of 
considerateness — and  the  siege  of  Tsingtao  was 
inevitable.  If  Japan  had  tried  for  Tsingtao  in  a 
legitimate  manner,  prescribed  by  the  canons  of 
international  law,  she  would  have  attacked  by  the 
sea,  posting  her  navy,  armed  with  high-powered 
guns  outdistancing  those  of  the  Germans  off  the 
port,  and  thus  she  would  have  pounded  it  until 
it  surrendered — a  job  relatively  easy  to  do.  How¬ 
ever,  Japan  was  after  bigger  game — control  of 
the  province — not  merely  of  the  small  German 
concession  (extending  inland  only  twenty  kilo¬ 
meters)  and  whose  capital  city,  attacked  from  the 


212 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


sea,  was  the  only  front  available  without  violating 
a  neutral  China;  just  as,  had  Germany  tried  for 
Paris  in  a  legitimate  manner,  through  France,  it 
would  have  been  not  by  way  of  neutral  Belgium, 
but  it  would  have  been  by  way  of  the  strongholds 
of  Toul  and  Verdun.  In  both  cases  the  attack 
meant  great  slaughter  of  men  to  be  mown  down 
by  fortress  guns.  As  Germany  attacked  by  way 
of  the  contiguous-  territory  of  an  innocent  neigh¬ 
bor,  Belgium,  so  also  Japan  now  did  by  way  of 
a  peaceable,  neutral  China. 

Marching  over  hundreds  of  li  of  the  territory 
of  Shantung  Province,  her  troops  living  off  the 
people,  Japan,  one  rainy  fall  day  of  1914,  settled 
down  to  the  siege  of  Tsingtao  from  its  back  door; 
that  is  to  say,  she  posted  hundreds  of  guns  of 
heavy  caliber,  heavier  than  the  Germans  ’,  and  out¬ 
numbering  them  many  to  one,  behind  the  protect¬ 
ing  foothills  of  the  Lao  Mountains  (Lao  Shan), 
several  miles  to  the  east  of  the  German  colonial 
capital. 

For  Japan  it  was  but  a  first-class  fall  field 
maneuver,  only  more  expensive  and  much  more 
exciting;  also  destined  to  be  bloody  and  “full  of 
glory.’ ’  From  behind  those  foothills  the  Japanese 
infantrymen,  who  had  made  themselves  famous 
in  the  Busso- Japanese  War,  ten  years  earlier,  by 
their  spade  work,  crept  forth  each  night  to  dig 
and  worm  themselves,  by  means  of  zigzag 


In  Besieged  Tsingtao 


213 


trenches,  across  the  intervening  plain,  a  little 
nearer  to  their  prey. 

The  Germans  were  outnumbered,  so  they  said, 
fifteen  to  one  (60,000  against  4,000) ;  according 
to  the  Japanese  not  four  to  one  (13,500  against 
4,000).  At  any  rate,  it  was  only  a  question  of 
time  when  the  trapped  victims  had  to  succumb 
from  exhaustion,  shortage  of  water  or  food  or 
ammunition  or  guns  or  men — some  or  all.  With 
the  same  delicate  irony  as  that  displayed  in  their 
declaration  of  war,  the  Japs  decided  to  take 
Tsingtao  on  the  seventh  of  November,  the  anni¬ 
versary  of  the  day  the  German  cruiser  squadron, 
under  Prince  Henry,  brother  of  the  Kaiser,  had 
sailed  into  the  bay  during  1897  and  taken  it  from 
the  Chinese. 

Each  side  settled  down  grimly,  but  the  advan¬ 
tage  was  all  with  the  Japanese — as  has  been  said, 
many  more  guns  and  bigger,  many  more  men,  an 
adequate  commissariat,  undisturbed  communica¬ 
tions  with  the  home  base,  a  constant  stream  of 
reinforcements  supplied  by  an  unhampered  navy. 
The  Japanese  had  perfect  maps,  a  multitude  of 
them,  with  every  sort  of  detail  worked  out  upon 
them.  Had  not  their  engineering  and  artillery 
officers  and  draftsmen,  disguised  as  Chinese 
coolies,  helped  to  build  the  German  forts?  Had 
not  their  spies — an  army  of  them — from  the  days 
of  Germany’s  occupation,  swarmed  Germany’s 


214 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


‘ 4  ninety-nine-year  leased  territory/  ’  photograph¬ 
ing  and  drawing  everything,  np  and  down,  every¬ 
where,  from  every  angle?  Had  not  other  spies, 
many,  dwelt  in  the  city  and  environs,  familiariz¬ 
ing  themselves  and  their  government  with  every 
business  firm  and  house  and  public  institution  and 
private  building  and  plot  of  ground? 

So  that  when  those  long  rows  of  big  modern 
guns  were  planted  behind  those  foothills,  the  gun¬ 
ners  not  only  knew  where  were  their  objectives, 
but  knew  the  fraction  of  a  meter  to  each  object; 
they  knew  the  exact  angle  and  elevation  necessary 
to  smash  these  objects. 

And  as  afterward  one  saw  the  results  of  many 
of  those  shots,  on  the  outer  works,  and  the  hill 
forts  and  buildings  in  the  city,  one  felt  that  only 
by  a  special  providence  of  God  could  anything 
have  been  saved  from  destruction.  For  instance, 
I  saw  shell  holes  where  great  shells  had  been 
dropped  neatly  and  exactly  on  the  top  of  under¬ 
ground  casements  of  forts,  the  roofs  of  which 
were  composed  of  six  feet  of  solid  cement 
strengthened  with  thickly  woven  heavy  steel  wire, 
plus  four  to  five  feet  of  gravel  covering,  and  all 
that  topped  with  a  three-foot  layer  of  dirt  and 
heavy  turf.  And  the  monster  shell  had  torn 
through  it  all  as  paper,  wrecking  thick  concrete- 
walled  hospitals,  electric  power  rooms  and 
kitchens  and  messrooms. 


In  Besieged  Tsingtao 


215 


If  anything  was  to  prevail  against  the  barrage 
of  snch  monsters  of  frightfnlness  when  that  bar¬ 
rage  opened  it  wonld  have  to  be  supernatural. 

At  last  all  was  ready.  The  zigzag  trenches,  in 
spite  of  all  the  outnumbered  and  harassed  de¬ 
fenders  could  do,  had  crept  relentlessly  forward, 
inch  by  inch,  until  they  were  right  up  under  the 
chins  of  the  five  great  AussenwerJce ,  that  were 
linked  together,  and  that  in  their  united  puissance 
stretched  several  miles,  from  Kiaochou  Bay,  the 
inner  bay,  on  the  north,  to  the  open  sea  on  the 
south,  for  thus,  in  linked  defense,  they  cut  off  the 
peninsular  land  that  constitutes  Tsingtao  from 
the  hostile  mainland  to  the  east.  The  Germans 
all  knew  that  when  the  expected  barrage  was  fin¬ 
ished  out  of  the  earth  would  issue  those  swarms 
of  human  locusts  that  would  eat  up  everything 
before  them.  For  the  barrage  would  have  left 
little  resistance. 

Suddenly  one  night  the  barrage  began.  Who 
can  describe  it?  That  infernal  din!  Soulless 
monsters  of  destruction  hurtling  through  the 
troubled  air;  a  systematic  sprinkling  of  the  city 
with  iron  projected  at  high  speed;  the  sprinkling 
shortly  increased  to  a  rain  of  steel;  that  rain 
whipped  up  into  a  hurricane  of  bursting  shells. 
They  crumpled  houses,  disfigured  public  works, 
they  fired  private  warehouses,  they  ruined  in  one 
second  years  of  work;  they  ate  up  fortunes  in  a 


216 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


minute ;  they  made  humans  suddenly  and  literally 
disappear  off  the  face  of  the  earth;  they  sunk 
merchantmen  that  crouched  vainly  for  protection 
in  the  inner  harbor ;  they  spared  not  battleships, 
whose  big  guns  on  their  decks,  when  hit,  made 
them  but  go  under  the  quicker;  they  crumpled 
and  twisted  the  costly  mortars  of  the  German 
forts  and  threw  them  as  light  things  violently  out 
of  their  pits.  Thus  did  terrible  implements  of 
destruction,  costing  immense  sums  of  money,  in¬ 
stantly  become  mere  scrap  iron.  Great  go-downs, 
stored  with  kerosene  and  other  valuable  merchan¬ 
dise,  were  set  on  fire,  their  black  smoke  clouds 
filling  the  sky  for  days;  soldiers  in  their  subter¬ 
ranean  fortress  caverns  of  concrete  were  done  to 
death;  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were  searched 
out  in  their  lowest  cellars ;  no  pity  was  shown  for 
the  wounded  lying  in  their  improvised  lazarettes. 
This  was  hell  broke  loose!  And  it  lasted  nearly 
a  week ! 

No  wonder  that  the  Chinese  servants,  who  had 
been  unable  to  get  away,  opened  the  manholes  of 
the  sewage  system  and  in  terror  crawled  into  the 
big  piping  of  the  streets  for  safety !  All  in  vain ! 
What  folly  the  whole  business !  And  what  bitter¬ 
ness  of  heart  it  aroused ! 

That  whirlwind  of  iron !  Who  could  stay  it,  or 
avoid  it,  or  direct  it  into  harmlessness?  Only 
One,.  and  that  One  God!  And  how?  Through  the 


In  Besieged  Tsingtao 


217 


medium  of  prayer,  the  prayer  of  his  believing 
ones.  Those  believing  ones  were  not  lacking  and 
their  prayers  were  offered  in  sincerity  and  in 
truth.  And  remarkable  was  the  result! 

When  we  realized  that  the  Japanese  could 
strike  where  and  when  and  what  they  wanted  to, 
we  were  surprised  the  more  at  our  immunity. 
The  three  missions  of  the  colony,  the  Berlin,  the 
Weimar  and  the  American  Presbyterian,  were  all 
located  on  a  beautiful  high  hill  so  sightly  in  its 
light-colored  buildings  and  coat  of  dark  ever¬ 
greens  (planted  by  the  Forestry  Department), 
that  we  marveled  how  all  objects  thereon  were  not 
pulverized.  This  impression  was  heightened 
when  we  sensed  the  hurricane  of  shells  that 
passed  over  the  WTeimar  end  of  our  Missions- 
hug  el;  when  we  had  to  acknowledge  the  marvel 
of  a  shell  actually  passing  into  one  of  the  resi¬ 
dences  of  the  Berlin  Mission,  ricochetting  all 
around  the  living  room,  standing  itself  demurely 
upon  the  reading  table  and  injuring  nothing; 
when  we  saw  the  unbelievable,  of  a  big  shell  ex¬ 
ploding  in  our  own  back  yard,  and,  though  tear¬ 
ing  up  a  capacious  hole  just  outside  our  kitchen 
door  and  shattering  window  panes,  yet  harming 
no  person. 

Still  more  remarkable  was  our  immunity,  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  Germans  mounted  on 
our  hill  batteries  of  long-range  guns  from  the 


218 


Answered  Prayer  in  China 


Kaiserin  Elisabeth,  of  the  Austrian  imperial 
navy,  changing  them  to  various  positions  along 
the  crest,  inviting  retaliatory  fire,  and  still  we 
were  unhurt. 

In  the  East  and  West  Suburbs  our  chapel  com¬ 
pounds  were  used  for  cavalry  stables,  but  no  gun¬ 
fire  damage  was  done.  In  the  city  itself,  our 
church  property,  which  consisted  of  a  large 
church  building,  parsonage,  schoolrooms  and  a 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  plant,  had  a  few  scratches  on  their 
streetward  surface,  but  no  real  damage  done, 
while  many  all  about  them,  buildings  of  the 
heathen,  toppled  into  ruins. 

One  of  our  Christians,  Elder  Lin,  was  a  wealthy 
real  estate  owner  and  house  renter.  He  is  a  man 
of  exemplary  life,  mighty  in  prayer,  and  generous 
with  his  money  in  the  Lord’s  work.  No  damage 
whatever  was  done  to  his  property,  scattered  all 
over  the  city,  while  many  stores  and  residences 
of  the  heathen  went  down  like  a  deck  of  cards. 

Most  remarkable  of  all,  more  so  than  the 
preservation  of  mission  property  and  that  of  the 
Chinese  Christians,  was  the  fact  that  not  one  of 
our  Christians  lost  his  life  or  was  even  wounded. 
4 ‘Our  God  is  a  protecting  wall,  a  fortress  in  a 
hostile  land.”  Again  we  realized  the  truth  of 
the  latter  part  of  the  Shepherd  Psalm,  in  which, 
still  continuing  the  shepherd  figure,  David  draws 
the  picture  of  the  sheep  safe,  though  in  the  pres- 


In  Besieged  Tsingtao 


219 


ence  of  the  foe,  because  of  the  presence  of  the 
shepherd :  ‘  ‘  Thou  preparest  a  [banquet]  table  [as 
it  were]  before  me,  in  the  presence  of  mine 
enemies.’ ’  With  the  Shepherd ,  the  place  of  dan¬ 
ger  is  the  place  of  safety . 


* 


I 


* 


BW8220  .S425 
Answered  prayer  in  China; 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1012  00018  8104 


